Ah Summerfest, the perfumed scents of cherry wood, rubs, oils and sauces dug into the senses. But what’s left days after is the fleeting memory of what it was like to taste the fruits of the meat chefs’ collective labor.

The nostalgia isn’t left to the memory of one. There were a lot of people at Summerfest 2024. The raffle tickets — 500 of them — were sold out, which made Bette Worth, Bobbi McCracken, Rick Moyer and all of the other volunteers ecstatic. No surprise, the barbecue tasting tickets — $5 to taste chunks of tri-tip from eight barbecue teams — sold out fast as well. And this year, the tasting tickets sold even faster.

It seemed like the weather would hinder the crowds at Summerfest. Despite the famed song from The Beatles “Here Comes the Sun” playing during the first hour of the festival, it didn’t look like the sun would come out on Saturday. Instead, there were intermittent raindrops. And then those drops turned into light rainfall. Volunteers were covering up the sound equipment around the stage and hustling to protect other equipment susceptible to the precipitation.

But the rain only stopped a few people from showing up. Judi Hubbard, a Summerfest volunteer, had a relaxed attitude about the rain.

“The rain’s OK,” Hubbard said. “It’s not gonna dampen anything. And the barbecue masters are still cooking. Besides, it’s Grays Harbor. It’s not gonna stop people around here. People are still buying tickets.”

Clearing weather

Fortunately, the rain wasn’t an issue long as it stopped soon after. But, even if it kept up, it wouldn’t have stopped McCracken. The cowboy boot-wearing organizer was on a mission to keep the festival as fun as it could be. During the first hour of the festival, McCracken had accumulated more than 12,000 steps. In downtown Aberdeen since about 5:30 a.m. — when the barbecue teams were already smoking the tri-tips, pork ribs and chicken — the briefly seated but otherwise fleet-footed McCracken anticipated she’d get to about 30,000 steps by the end of the day.

“We’re exhausted, but it’s a good type of exhaustion,” McCracken said. “They started asking about tasting tickets at about 9:30 (a.m.)”

Smokers, cut your tri-tips

Once the clock struck noon, it was time to feast on the slow-cooked delicacies from the eight different vendors. People were lined up at each tent. Friends greeted each other. Families corralled their young children to make sure everyone tried a sample.

“They’re awesome,” John Sidor said as he pointed at the Vitamin Q tent.

He wasn’t wrong. Vitamin Q took home the grand prize, among other prizes, during the barbecue competition later in the day. Thomas Johnson’s rub on the barbecue had something to do with it.

“Buttery garlic with lots of pepper,” Johnson said. “It’s all about the coarse ground pepper. You want the coarse. We cook it like a steak for best results.”

Phil “Tiger” Booth, the restauranteur over at the Oak Burger tent, chose a different method. No rub or sauce at all. He chose to let the meat — cooked with cherry wood — “speak” for itself.

“We have a heavy smoke flavor, it’s tasty as all heck,” Booth said. “I want to give people that good smoke flavor.”

Alex and Brittany Hoover, the people behind “The Misfits” showed well. The tri-tip looked like it belonged on a nationally-syndicated cooking show. And they had the personality to go with it. Brittany talked about the sunburn she got last year and how she was prepared for whatever the weather had in store for her as she was wearing a tropical shirt and a wide-brimmed hat. As for Alex, he was wearing a shirt for all barbecue cooks. It said “Every butt deserves to be rubbed.”

In addition to all of the meat, including the Ray’s Place team, who called themselves Bad Guys BBQ, yet provided the goods with a homemade chili oil for their tri-tip, there was more in-store for families. After all, that’s the point of Summerfest: to get people downtown on a fun day.

Watermelon eating contest

The meat wasn’t the only culinary star of the day. The watermelon pulled in children from most ages. The strategies between the competitors in each age range differed. Some took many small, quick bites in order to get through their large chunks of melon fast. Others, like Eden Felder, a 12-year-old from Aberdeen, went with a different strategy in order to win against their peers. Felder won two $5 gift certificates to Deen Dogs. He spoke about his win while his proud dad Curtis stood next to him.

“I was pretty confident, I was expecting like second at best, but first is incredible for me,” Eden said.

Eden’s dad thinks his son’s size helped him.

“He’s the biggest 12-year-old you’re gonna meet around here,” Curtis said.

Eden talked about his strategy.

“Before I got into the competition, it was kind of like a joke, but I just kind of extended my jaw a bit,” Eden said. “Also what I did is I stuffed my cheeks like a chipmunk.”

Curtis said his family’s from Southern California, but for the last two years they’ve lived in Aberdeen. He said they love living in Aberdeen. Then Curtis got to boast about his son.

“It was fun, I told him to be a good sport, don’t worry about winning, I thought he’d probably be the biggest kid there,” Curtis said. “I noticed they gave the kid next to him a much smaller piece of watermelon and (Eden) had a big one. I was like ‘hey, you know what, you can go as hard as you want.’ I was telling him ‘don’t go too hard, don’t be too aggressive,’ but it was just for fun. I was proud to see him have fun, be a good sport and do a good job. And he’s always been a big eater, as you can tell.”

Thoughts on the festival

McCracken gave a late review of the day.

“It was a slow start with that rain, that worried me,” McCracken said. “But then all of a sudden we ran out of raffle tickets and tasting tickets, and there are people still wanting to buy (more) so I think it was successful.”

McCracken said most vendors she spoke to said they “were doing well.”

For the love of the game

While all barbecuers seemed to enjoy themselves, one of the teams who seemed to enjoy themselves more so was The Blue Dragon Smokers. The family made of friends all live in Aberdeen. They’ve raised their smoking game for fun at home, in Aberdeen.

“Half of our meat is from Hector (Topete),” said one of the teammates at Blue Dragon. “We do this in our backyard every day.”

The team kept its rub simple as they went with salt and pepper with activated charcoal.

For the families

Ian VanDooren was carrying his toddler Thomas on his back and walking with his four-year-old daughter Emily. Both young children looked like they were having fun and Emily was a big ball of happy energy. The trio enjoyed the balloon artist, lemonade, and more.

“And she had her first chicken Yakisoba,” Ian said about Emily’s experience with one of the offerings at the Rancho Alegre Meat and Produce tent. “And we’re very much enjoying the live music.”

Judges’ thoughts

Dale Green, Aberdeen Police Department’s chief, thoroughly enjoyed himself after sinking his teeth into the “mystery meat,” which was salmon.

“I can’t complain,” Green said. “Getting paid to eat barbecue is a pretty good gig.”

Green was able to enjoy something Saturday he had never had before: salmon tacos.

“It was awesome,” Green said.

Johnny Manson, who was a chef out on the coast for years, had a couple nice comments about the barbecue chefs and their product.

“It’s been amazing,” Manson said. “There’s a lot of talent here.”

Shelby Dixon, director of the culinary program at Aberdeen High School, was the third judge. While she was impressed with the food, she was glad the rain stopped early, the clouds cleared and the weather got much better.

“I’m happy the rain went away,” Dixon said. “I think the turnout is awesome and I love the smell of the barbecue.”

The judges didn’t just feast on the flavors from local teams. Coach’s Q, from Arlington, gave it a go this year. Tim Putnam was the head barbecuer, according to Bette Worth, one of the main organizers for Aberdeen Summerfest.

The barbecue winners:

Mystery Meat

Vitamin Q — $100

Beans

Coach’s Q — $80

Chicken

First place — The Blue Dragon Smokers — $500

Second place — BS BBQ — $300

Third place — Vitamin Q — $200

Pork Ribs

First place — Vitamin Q — $500

Second place — The Skinner Men — $300

Third place — Bad Guys BBQ (Ray’s Place) — $200

People’s Choice — Vitamin Q — $100

Grand Prize — Vitamin Q — $800

Johnson, from Vitamin Q, said it “feels good” to win the grand prize at Summerfest. He spoke about the win and Summerfest.

“We had this weekend free, so we decided to stay close to home and it paid off,” Johnson said. “This is a fun event.”

Johnson said the volunteers and Downtown Aberdeen Association does a “great job” with Summerfest.

“It’s great for the town,” Johnson said. “We don’t get a whole lot of (events where we’re) bringing everybody together.”

Johnson said it was great to do “the hometown thing.” As for who else he’d vote for, he said “BS BBQ.”

“These guys on the end here, the teachers …” Johnson said. “They’re here every year and I’d love to see them take it here one of these times, obviously when we’re not here. But, they’re here every year. It’d be great to see someone who puts in the legwork, commitment, you know, persistence.”

Matthew N. Wells / The Daily World Right after Rick Moyer, left, announced the winner of the watermelon eating contest — the 9-12-year range — he held up Eden Felder’s fist up like he was announcing the winner of a title fight. Felder said he was trying to eat the watermelon with huge bites, like a snake, but he also stored watermelon in his cheeks, like a chipmunk. It seems it was nature working together to get Felder his win. His dad, Curtis, was beaming after Eden won two $5 gift certificates to Deen Dogs. Maybe that’s in his future, hot dog eating champion.

Matthew N. Wells / The Daily World While certainly not the only band enjoyed on Saturday, a popular element for people looking for free entertainment, The Six played songs from the pop and rock genres to an adoring Aberdeen Summerfest crowd.

Matthew N. Wells / The Daily World Vitamin Q won a lot of money on Saturday at Aberdeen Summerfest. The barbecue team won a combined $1,700 as they won the grand prize, people’s choice, and the mystery meat category. They also came in first place in the pork ribs category and third place in the chicken category.