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It rained cats and dogs on the Year of the Pig as the 13th annual Que on the Yazoo festival slogged through a Saturday reduced to a few early events and the cooking competition.
The part of the barbecue festival that appealed to people who wanted to eat a funnel cake, drink a lemonade and stroll among the crafts tents while listening to live music was basically canceled, with some of the music moved to Station 222 for brunch.
The large, expensive pontoon boat that someone inexplicably left parked along Main Street in the middle of the festival made much more sense at mid-day Saturday as the water poured from the sky.
The Pet Pawrade and the Beer Run were completed before the rain started, although with limited participation. Justin Carpenter and Shaya Longie were first and second across the finish line in the run-drink-run competition between the Yazoo and Tallahatchie rivers.
The judging for the barbecue competition took place inside the Viking Training Center throughout the morning and early afternoon. Folks who still came downtown in the downpour ducked indoors to take part in the People’s Choice competition or buy themselves a Blood Mary with accoutrements that included everything from celery to shrimp and bacon.
And while Saturday was mostly a rainout, Friday night drew a good crowd downtown for food, beer and music that came off as planned before the skies opened up.
“Everybody rolls with the cooking aspect of things,” said Brantley Snipes, executive director of Main Street Greenwood and organizer of the festival. “But the rain kind of sucks because it impacts the public’s participation more than anything.”
While the festival had a limited audience, the self-sustaining event won’t be hampered next year.
“Thanks to the support of our sponsors, I think we’ll still make money from the weekend,” Snipes said. “We’ll have a little bit of a hurt because we didn’t have as many other fun activities for people to do. It kind of hampers the spirit, but it doesn’t stop the party.”
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