Don Shrubshell photo

Mike Watson, left, and Mark Johnson of Alchemy Barbecue prepare to smoke some baby back ribs this morning at the Roots ‘N Blues ‘N BBQ Festival in downtown Columbia. •  Tribune's Guide •  Festival Schedule •  Official web site

Although visitors to the Roots ’N Blues ’N BBQ Festival might expect a relaxing time, today and tomorrow will be anything but quiet for nearly five dozen cooking teams converging downtown for a barbecue-themed brawl.

Don Shrubshell photo

Moving performance Jason White, left, and Jeremiah Settles of J&J Contracting and Remodeling LLC prepare murals to be installed today in the Tiger Hotel VIP Room for the Roots ‘N Blues ‘N BBQ Festival in downtown Columbia.

The grilling pit is full, and the roster is set: This year’s barbecue competition has drawn 57 entries, with competitors vying for $15,000 in cash prizes. That’s a few more than last year’s 52.

Contest hopeful and last year’s sixth-place overall Pigs Gone Wild barbecue team members from O’Fallon used trial and error in cooking during these final weeks as their strategy for success.

Bobby Bowlin, one of the team members, said he and his buddies are working to solidify recipes and are using other barbecue festivals for practice.

"It takes time management," Bowlin said. "We’re fortunate that we work very well together, and everyone knows what they’ve got to do."

Bowlin, a sales representative in his day job, cooks with his father, brother and sponsors and also depends heavily on support from his mom and his wife. The Pigs Gone Wild team is relatively new to the sport - it started in 2006 - but has traveled to Springfield, Sikeston and across Illinois to compete.

The contest’s final decision is left up to 60 judges who will face the grueling task of sampling the dozens of chicken, pork rib, pork roast, beef brisket and sausage entries.

The competition is a Kansas City Barbeque Society-sanctioned event, which means participants follow its set of rules and regulations.

Carolyn Wells, KCBS executive director, said the rules are mainly in place to keep food safe and prevent "things that constitute bad behavior," not to limit creativity by the cooks.

"We have a system that works and that has the trust of the cooks," Wells said. "It’s very educated."

KCBS also certifies judges in four-hour seminars and has taught about 300 judges so far this year. All of the judges at the Roots ’N Blues ’N BBQ Festival will be KCBS-certified.

Wells said there are some skills you just can’t teach.

"You have to like barbecue and be able to talk about it endlessly," she said. "We can’t qualify taste buds, but we can make sure judges know what they’re doing."

One of those judges includes event organizer and KCBS representative Mike McMillen. He said judges need an open mind. "You have to be receptive to new ideas and flavors," he wrote in an e-mail.

He said the competition will be great but made no predictions as to who would be this year’s winners.

Some fans might be disappointed to discover that, as with last year, festival onlookers won’t be able to eat the food from the competition. McMillen said it’s not the cooks’ jobs to be vendors.

"Competitors are there to compete in the competition, not to serve food to the public," McMillen said, adding that there will plenty of other options where visitors can eat closer to the nearby music venues.

As for the competitors, many will spend their final moments perfecting sauces.

Bowlin and his teammate will be hitting two other barbecue competitions before the showdown in Columbia, one in Murphysboro, Ill., and the other in Ballwin. He said the competition can get pricey, but the payoff - camaraderie with friends and family - is well worth it.

"It’s an expensive sport, but it’s easy to get passionate about," he said, adding that many "practice sessions" are just going over to one another’s houses to grill.

How will they get from place to place with all the meat, support crew and equipment? The team recently purchased an old bread delivery truck, which they say they’ve converted into a "Pigmobile."

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