It was a delicious and rewarded weekend in Murphy Park last weekend.
The Taylor International Barbecue Cookoff survived torrential rain and hot temperatures Aug. 19-20. The 43rd marking of the event crowned Real Men of Genius team with the Master Cook award. Cookers returned to Murphy Park for the first time in a few years after the COVID-19 pandemic prompted the cookoff’s cancellation in 2020 and the event returned to Williamson County Expo Center in 2021. “This is now a small committee’s event, which means this is all of your event. We didn’t do this for ourselves,” said Tim Mikeska, Taylor International Barbecue Cookoff committee member. “We did it all for you to bring this bit of history back to this park, so we need your help in the future. We need people to follow us in this. We can’t do this forever, so we need your help next year. We plan on forming a C corporation and a 501(c), so when you donate your entry fee, that would be tax deductible.”
The barbecue cookoff started as a chamber of commerce event in 1978 and continued as such until a committee split off in 1987. The committee, along with renowned cooker Bob Roberts, oversaw the cookoff until the mid 90s when the Jaycees organization took over through the 2000s. The Greater Taylor Chamber of Commerce resumed control before the Taylor Rodeo Association hosted the event last year.
The committee has hopes of establishing a culinary scholarship for a senior at Taylor High School. This year’s funds went towards prize money for the winners. “We had anonymous donors that put more money in because they were so happy that we came back,” said Mikeska, “and that means a lot because we’re not keeping it. It’s going to all of y’all.”
Several teams flooded the park with their RVs, trailers and barbecue setups. Nelson Parker, with the Shake and Bake team, simply enjoyed going and hanging out with friends. It was the first time they had competed in years.
“When we were all younger, we use to come out here, and then we had kids and everything,” said Parker, and “now we’re getting all back together.” With many toasts among friends throughout the weekend, a special one was offered with everyone at the awards ceremony for previous competitor Clay Raesz. The beloved member of the cookoff committee passed away July 1.
“Nobody wanted this cookoff more than Clay Raesz,” said Mikeska. “Clay would’ve been the first one here and the last to leave.”
In his honor, this year’s Bob Roberts Award went to Raesz. His wife, Heather Abrams-Raesz, accepted on his behalf.
“‘Barbecue’ Bob Roberts, as he’s known in the cookoff world, was associated with competitions all over Texas, parts of the United States and Canada. Whether he was organizing an event or competing as a cooker, Bob’s belief was that the best cooking teams were those who were friendly, courteous, helpful to others and were good sports who competed for fun as well as to win. This award is presented in Bob’s memory to the team who upholds those qualities and carries on the tradition of friendly competition that we share with so many people, given by the Taylor Lions Foundation (and) the TIBC Committee 2022.”
