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New Holland Summerfest 2018 Barbecue Competition
This barbecue competition marks our 135th competition, and the 17th straight year of Dizzy Pig at the New Holland Summerfest.
In 2002, the Dizzy Pig Competition BBQ Team kicked off their career just East of Lancaster, Pennsylvania in a gorgeous town called New Holland in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch farm country. The New Holland Summerfest was in its third year when Dizzy Pig cooked their first contest there. And while we felt quite confident with our cooking skills on the Big Green Egg, we were as green as it gets with competition BBQ.
As luck would have it, we were cooking right next to Ray “Dr. BBQ” Lampe. He was an early mentor to us, dropping several bits of wisdom upon us during the contest. And he has since become our good friend! We didn’t beat DrBBQ that day, of course, but we managed 8th place overall in a field of 34 competition teams!
We were hooked.
August 25, 2018 marked the 17th straight year we’ve competed at this amazing event. Being almost 2 decades older than we were, when we first competed there, is just one reason this contest was really special for us this year.
And when you think about it, the beautiful community park where the contest is held feels a lot like home. In fact, we’ve now camped a total of 34 nights in the park. We’ve had so much fun and excitement, cooking on our Big Green Eggs and making many friends along the way. This competition is one of the best there is, laid back and run like a well-oiled machine, and we were so happy to be back again.
How did Dizzy Pig do this year?
We thought the food we turned into the judges was solid, and we especially liked the chicken and ribs this year.
The judges? Not so much.
Of the 71 teams competing, Dizzy Pig placed 36th overall, with the following individual results:
- 34th in Chicken
- 26th in Ribs
- 26th in Pork
- 44th in Brisket
What that means is zero top ten calls to the stage in the four main categories. Which is normally a lonely place to be…
But hey, the silver lining shone that day, and Dizzy Pig received two calls to the stage, thanks to the efforts of Susan Handy! She and Teresa Nester took on the responsibility of cooking the two ancillary categories and rocked it! Dizzy Pig placed:
- 5th in Sausage
- 9th in Chef’s Choice
What were the judges looking at?
How have we done in the past?
In past years, Dizzy Pig has held their own against this talented lineup of teams. In the 16 previous years, Dizzy Pig won a Grand Championship in 2014, and took top-ten overall honors 10 times!
New Holland Competitions Results 2002 – 2017
2002 - 8th / 34 teams
2003 - 17th / 43 teams
2004 - 11th / 54 teams
2005 - 4th / 55 teams
2006 - 7th / 72 teams
2007 - 8th / 70 teams
2008 - 10th / 71 teams
2009 - 22nd / 72 teams
2010 - 12th / 72 teams
2011 - 4th / 67 teams
2012 - 15th / 71 teams
2013 - 8th / 71 teams
2014 - 1st / 70 teams
2015 - 4th / 70 teams
2016 - 41st / 66 teams
2017 - 7th / 69 teams
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