Kindling
Hey Reader
I know. I'm a little late on today's newsletter...but it's still Monday! 😉
As the weather heats up, so do the BBQ competitions and festivals around the state. I will share a few of them with you below, but I wanted to take a moment to mention a particularly personal one.
I was born and raised in Cheraw, SC. On April 5-6, The Prettiest Town in Dixie will be hosting their annual Spring Festival. In conjunction with that, the First United Methodist Church is selling its famous BBQ.
As a young kid, I was a Cub Scout in a troop at the church. While I wrote about this a bit more deeply here and for space, I'll let you read more there if you like, but here's how I opened a section of the linked recipe:
I’ll never forget my first bite of real BBQ.
I was a Cub Scout, maybe 7 or 8, and we had just returned from an overnight camping trip from somewhere at a nearby camp. Must have been owned by the First United Methodist Church in Cheraw, I don’t know, but while we were there, I became cognizant of an oddity going on at the same time we were camping.
Some of the men were cooking entire pigs over coals. To a young mind, this was quite a curiosity, but not one that necessarily occupied that fleeting attention span for more than a few minutes and I was back off, playing with my troop....
It's a quick read, if you'd like to finish reading it, but the bottom line is this, "I found heaven in a church kitchen."
When Rhett wrote in to suggest I mention the event, it brought back memories. So, if you're in the area, check out the Spring Fling, but be sure to drop by the church for a taste of heaven:
FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH’S FAMOUS BBQ
113 Third Street • Saturday, April 5 (11:00AM – 2:00PM / Take out only)
In today's issue, I'll share an exciting new feature for Destination BBQ that I hope you'll find useful, we'll see a few upcoming events, and I'll spotlight a place as patriotic as they come.
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Cheers,
Jim Roller
Destination BBQ
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PS: As I try to remember to say sincerely and regularly, thanks for being here. I hope you enjoy our efforts, but if you findthis content is not right for you, I always include an unsubscribe link at the bottom of every email. I know we all get lots of email. I don't want these emails to clog anyone's inbox, but I hope you'll stick around for more. 😉
Smoke Signals
—New SC BBQ Directory (City by City)
As most of you know, I have long included an interactive SCBBQ Trail Map on Destination BBQ. It's one of the most visited pages on the site. It does a commendable job of showing you BBQ restaurants near you; however, I admit it's not necessarily an easy format to scan what all is available in a given area.
Well, no more. Today, you become the first person I've officially shared this with:
I have created a new SC BBQ Directory. This directory homepage will link you out to over 25 individual city directories. Collectively, they cover the majority of the state, as each city directory includes surrounding communities.
For instance, click on the BBQ Restaurants Around Sumter link and you'll see all the places we have in Sumter, plus "nearby" communities like Gadsden, Manning, Rembert, and Summerton. Generally, the city directories cover an area around a 25-mile radius (give or take) from the main city being featured.
It's still in the early days and I will likely do some tweaking, but at heart, I wanted it to be a simple interface that is easy to scroll quickly through and see BBQ joints in the area. If you want more detail on a particular place, just click to visit the listing page for a given restaurant.
I'd appreciate it if you'd check out the listing for (or near) the area of the state you're most familiar with and shoot me an email if you spot a problem. Maybe I left out a restaurant or community. Maybe I included a place that is too far away to make sense for the main area. Any concerns or suggestions, I'm eager to hear. And if you like what you see, sharing the directory pages on your favorite social platforms, email, or among friends would certainly be nice. Thanks for any and allhelp.
