The Almost Heaven BBQ Bash cekebrates its 10th anniversary this weekend in Buckhannon. And I was lucky enough to judge. Judging is pretty secret - but I can tell you I had 5 tasty pieces of chicken, ribs, pork, brisket and the ancillary veal category. There were more than 30 competitors from the region. I don't know whose food was whose because it's a blind judging. But I feel pretty confident in saying they were all impressive:

3 Eyz Pigs
Almost Heaven Smokehouse
Beer Time BBQ
Big Dog BBQ
BigFoot Mountain BBQ
Buckeye Flavor
Chucky's Barbecue
Chunky BBQ
Circle L Barbeque
Convicted Pigs BBQ
Dog Bite Barbecue
Dogpatch Que
Elite BBQ Smokers
Fred Vegas Smokers
Gold-N-Blue Barbecue
Hold Your Horses BBQ
Holt Brothers BBQ
Hoos Smokin
House of Que
Meat Monarchy
Menke Boys BBQ
Philly Blind Pig
Pinky Out BBQ
Poor Boys BBQ
Professor Smoke
Sailor Nick's BBQ
Shiggin Ain't Easy
Susquehana Smokers
Uncle Pig's BBQ Pit
Wild & Wonderful BBQ
Wolf's Revenge BBQ
So, most of the competitive teams do it as a hobby and do not sell to the public. They're interested in making the most delicious food possible and winning awards from the certified judges. But then, there are BBQ vendors who run a business to sell to the public. So while the public doesn't see the competitive side, they can still get their BBQ fix. Those commercial BBQ vendors include:

Almost Heaven Smokehouse (Marlinton, WV)
Big Girls BBQ (Elmire, PA)
Jaws BBQ (Buckhannon, WV)
Off the Bone BBQ (Columbus, OH)
South Texas Barbecue Company (Weston, WV)
Personally, I didn't need anymore BBQ but I did scope out some of the other vendors. Gibson's Goodies I got some Dubai chocolate pistachio fudge I can't wait to try. Samples Pantry I snagged the strawberries with chocolate. Mountain State Sweets I love this nostalgic strawberry shortcake ice cream bar. Traveling Dawgz I ordered a hot dog with chili, slaw, mustard & onions. It was compact and pretty good.

Grade: A