MdCV officers, new and retiring, front from left, Chloe Volkman, Alaina Marsh, State FFA Sentinel Garrett Craig, Kaelin Criqui, Kathryn Vaught, back, Danny Rice, MdCV FFA advisor, Bayleigh Lacey, Sadie McGowin, Koby Vanderpool, Wyatt Lingenfelter, and Frank Warner. MdCV FFA photo.

The annual Marias des Cygnes Valley FFA Chapter Banquet was held on Friday April 11, 2019. Approximately 100 people, including members, families, and friends, gathered in the Melvern Community Center for pork chops and a potluck meal, awards and the installation of the 2019-2020 chapter officers.

An invocation from Frank Warner was followed by the dinner consisting of pork chops, sponsored by Don and Janise Hook, and side dishes and desserts brought by our members and their families. Following the dinner and chapter scrapbook video produced by Kathryn Vaught, the chapter officers president Chloe Volkman, vice-president Brookelyn Janssen, secretary Kathryn Vaught, treasurer Bayleigh Lacey, reporter Frank Warner, sentinel Alaina Marsh, and advisor and KSU student intern Cassandra Ebert began with opening ceremonies. KobyVanderpool, chapter student-council representative, introduced special guest speaker Garrett Craig, Kansas FFA Sentinel, with his speech “Focusing and Committing to Your Talents and Passion”.

Other guests included members of the USD 456 Board of Education, Marais des Cygnes Valley High School Principal Ben Gordon, members of the MdCV Ag Education Advisory Board, Joe and Shirley Litchtenauer, Dale and Peggy McCurdy, Jeff and Merrilyn Casten, Jennifer and Peter Roy, Janae and Caleb McNally, Jarah and Mike Hauger, and Joe and Shirley Lichtenauer.

A young chef carefully turns in her entry for Kids-Q to KCBS reps, from left, Dave and Peg Rogers, Linda and Dennis Polson, Mark Collier, and not pictured, Kim Collier, as local judges wait in anticipation. Jan Williams photo.

It’s a part of Smoke in the Spring that most folks don’t know is going on Friday evening, but you can bet there are some young cooks that have a watchful eye on their smokers for about three hours while everyone else is out enjoying the community barbecue party.

In the annual Kids-Q Competition, kid chefs compete in two age divisions, 10 and younger, and 11 and older. The cooks must be sponsored by one of the competition teams and cook their entries on site. At the cook’s meeting, the cooks are each given one pound of ground beef, donated this year by Allen Meat Processing, Allen, Kan., to cook however they choose.

Others who make Kids-Q possible are 24 local celebrity judges, who are instructed on the Kansas City Barbeque Society judging process before the kids’ turn-in time of 8 p.m. The kids contest is not a KCBS sanctioned part of Smoke in the Spring, but it is conducted according to KCBS rules and scoring. Judges are sequestered in the community building during the judging process.

At turn-in, the chefs bring their samples to the turn-in window at the community building, where the judging is conducted. The samples go to one of four tables of six judges each, where they are scored according to appearance, taste, and texture or tenderness. The judging process is the same as the sanctioned contest the next day.

Here are placing and payout results for the Smoke in the Spring Kids-Q held April 12, 2019:

Travis Clark, Clark Crew BBQ, left, accepts his grand champion awards Saturday from contest organizer Corey Linton, right, and Amy Linton.

OSAGE CITY, Kan. – A Yukon, Okla., barbecue team has become the first team to be a three-time grand champion at the Smoke in the Spring State BBQ Championship, at Osage City, Kan, after claiming that title again Saturday.

Clark Crew BBQ, with head cook Travis Clark, has been sweeping barbecue championships across the Midwest the last few years, and added another Smoke in the Spring State BBQ Championship to that tally after a tight competition among top cooks on April 13, 2019, at Jones Park, in Osage City. The team previously won grand champion at the Osage City competition in 2016 and 2017.

Clark Crew squeezed out last year’s grand champs, Hogline BBQ, Dustin and Mary Reese, of Owatonna, Minn., who claimed reserve grand champion this year. Coming in third overall was Hunka Hunka Burnin’ Rub, Chris Hoisington, of Olathe, Kan.