I was shocked to learn that this was actually the second year for PorkPalooza! How did I not know about it?

Anyway, PorkPalooza was a fundraiser for Feeding South Dakota. The organizers wanted to have a food, music, and beer festival that was all local to help out a local organization.

As the name would imply, the food aspect was all pork, BBQ to be exact, and Remedy Brewing handled the beer.

The event took place over two days, a Friday evening and all day Saturday. On Friday, you could purchase a pork passport that entitled you to one rib and beans from each vendor. There were 12 vendors so by the end, if you sampled all 12, you essentially ate a rack of ribs. Challenge accepted.

The 12 vendors were Backyard Grill,  BBQ Heaven, Clucking Good Chicken & BBQ, and Holy Smokes Barbecue, For Pete’s Sake BBQ, Sin Circle BBQ, Big J’s Roadhouse, Big Daddy D’s BBQ & Catering, Black Dynamite, Squealer’s Smoke Shack, and Jekyll & Hyde Barbecue, which had two different rib recipes.

I was in hog heaven. (Do you see what I did there?)

The few people I was there with, tapped out after 5, 6, or 7 ribs, but I was determined to try all 12. Why am I like this? I'm not a quitter!

Honestly, I really liked them all. Some were dry rub ribs, some were smothered in sauce, all were delicious.

They were all good for different reasons, but my top two were Cluckin Good Chicken & BBQ because I thought it was the most tender and literally fell off the bone. My runner up was Backyard because they let me swap out beans for macaroni and cheese! Well, and the ribs were good too. Plus, they had a mustardy BBQ sauce. Yum!

The actual people's choice winner was Big Daddy D's. I enjoyed their ribs as well. And they hold a special place in my heart because they actually gave me two ribs instead of one! Holla!

The winner was determined by patrons texting in their votes!

Can't wait until next year!

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