 | Winery proprietor Steve Thomas checking some smoked meat on the OK Joe trailer smoker. The smoker has been part of the festival for years, and it's a good way to demonstrate the various BBQ sauces offered at this event. People passing by can't help but notice there's an event on when the smoke blows onto the street. This year Steve cooked pork butt and ribs, served one tray at a time as snacks for all. |
| Folklorists use the term "interdiction" to refer to a prohibition or advice against doing something - for example, "Don't throw me in that briar patch!" Here we see a sample platter of THE BREAD, made famous by Jim Campbell, available for all to sample. "Whatever you do, for pity's sake, DON'T EAT THE BREAD!" So of course it becomes an object of curiosity and dares. You see people fear it, you see people taste it, you see those people staggering around and drooling. This is normal. The background of this shot shows some of Jim's dry seasonings line. |  |
 | This shot shows the main back room of the winery, set up for the Friday night hotluck. Wine vats and bottling equipment line both sides of the room, and exhibitors set up at tables, which become loaded with hotluck goodies. People cruise up and down the room, sampling foods and exchanging conversation. This is a great opportunity to talk to other chile-heads, professional and amateur. My camera's flash is far too weak to light the room, so I had to brighten this exposure, which makes it look washed out. |
| Jim Campbell discusses something, must be chiles, listened to by Bob and Sue (together known as Hobby Farmer), and, um ... that guy from The Sopranos. Yeah, that's it. You can see a steaming chafing dish on the table, and plenty of little sample cups in peoples' hands. The glass at the corner of the table holds Gale's Hard Cider, my favorite house beverage for these events. Jim's shirt has a hazardous-material code emblem. I never took a close look at it this year, but I seem to recall some sort of gag associated with it, like it describes the hazards of hot sauce. |  |
 | One of the vendors set up for the second night of the hotluck, which is the commercial exhibition. This display ranges from chile-head fudge (it might sound strange, but it's habit-forming) to pickled products, to snacks. Over the years, I've sampled many great products at tables like this, and sometimes I never get another chance to get them either in any store, or at this event in a future year. You can see some of the winery's bottling equipment in the background. This back room was a bit cold, and the vendors who stood long duty as the tables were trying to keep warm. |
These are sample bowls of salsas entered in the salsa competition. The entries vary quite a bit from year to year ; the categories range from traditional to most innovative. Usually, these are not extremely hot, but fresh-tasting enough to put you back in the summer harvest.  There have been entries with unusual ingredients, or unusual preparation, like the warm smoked entry from a few years ago. The overall winner receives the Grande Sombrero from Steve in an awards ceremony.(Personally, I think we should get him a top hat and tails for this.) |  |
 | The winery has local live music all year, on the small stage at the rear of the front room. (The long back room is behind the glass wall in this shot, you can see some of the chile lights over Jim's table. The view through the front windows is reflected in the glass.) The front room is small enough for the musicians to converse with the audience. For 2002, the Saturday music was from the Ellie Maze. On the first year I attended this event, the band had a washtub bass. The winery sells several CDs of music recorded on-premises, and from groups that have appeared there. Steve keeps the winery's website and newsletter current with a listing of upcoming acts. |
Y'all come back next year! And maybe next year you can get the top of the building in the picture! |  |
