By ABIGAIL SNOW
Moapa Valley Progress
Mesquite Gaming is holding its first ever ‘CasaBlanca BBQ Fest’ on Sept 8-10 in the CasaBlanca Events Center. The festival features three award-winning barbeque competition teams as well as family-friendly events and entertainment.
Christian Adderson, corporate sales manager at Mesquite Gaming, points out that barbeque festivals have been very popular events in the nation, especially during the summer when county fairs are held. Because of successfully hosting the ‘Smokin In Mesquite’ barbeque competition for eight years, the Mesquite Gaming executive group decided to start an annual barbecue festival to better cater to spectators.
“‘Smokin in Mesquite’ is more for competition, and we noticed the spectators were wanting to try the food and eat it,” explained Adderson. “So we decided to change it up a little bit and make it more of a true barbeque festival. We were looking at the ‘Best In The West Nugget Rib Cookoff’ festival which is held in Reno, and the largest barbeque festival in the nation. We wanted to create a smaller version of that here in Mesquite.”
Adderson explained they attended the Reno event and were able to secure three barbeque competition teams for this upcoming festival. The three award-winning teams are: Chicago BBQ Company, Texas Outlaw BBQ, and Austin’s Texas Lightning BBQ. Between the three teams, they have over 500 barbeque festival awards.
“Along with the great food, there will be many other activities to complete the festival,” said Adderson. “We will have a DJ to entertain, and pie- and watermelon-eating contests for the kids that are free to sign up for. We will be giving prizes away, and have a beer garden and tailgate games for the adults.”
There will also be shows held inside the CasaBlanca in the daytime and evening.
“We are all excited about this new event,” said Adderson. “ It is another fun family-friendly event, and we are confident it will grow and become another staple event for others to look forward to at the CasaBlanca.”
The BBQ Fest times are: Friday 1–7pm, Saturday 11am–7pm, Sunday 11am–5pm. For more information visit www.casablancaresort.com , or call 702-346-7529.
