If you are looking for a day of great food, music and games this summer, mark your calendar now for the July 23 Nisqually Valley Barbecue Rally in Yelm from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. The Yelm Chamber of Commerce is once again hosting this popular family-friendly event highlighting professional and amateur barbecue chefs and lots of summer fun. As its logo promises, the rally will be, “Saucier and Smokier Than Ever.”
“Oh my gosh, we are hoping for all the excitement of last year, times 10,” says Dan Nicholson, the Chamber’s immediate past president and one of the organizers. Nicholson and his wife Shelley own DZines Creative Solutions & Graphic Designs. They are two of the key volunteers joined by multiple Yelm-area business supporters. The planning committee has about 14 members plus dozens of other volunteers. “It’s an all-hands-on deck event,” Dan says. “Our volunteers are fantastic.”
“I feel like when you are there it feels like an old-time country festival,” Shelley says. “There’s good music. People are relaxing. There are hay bales. It’s really fun.”
“We are hoping for sunshine,” Dan adds. “We want all of the community to come out and enjoy the event.”
The night before, on July 22 beginning at 5 p.m., adults 21 and over can stop by the beer garden for the kick-off. Both the rally and beer garden are at the Yelm City Park. There are no gate or parking fees.
The 2021 rally drew approximately 8,000 visitors. “We were busy all day,” Shelley says. The centerpiece is the food, surrounded by music, games and local businesses’ booths. Professional vendors will be selling barbecue-focused food, and you can enjoy their other items too, like sweets. Last year’s restaurants and professionals hailed from around the Puget Sound.
And if you are not a professional chef but view yourself as a backyard barbecue hero, you can enter the Amateur Andys and Andies competition to pit your grilling skills against other homegrown cooks. Dan and Shelley highly encourage amateurs to enter. “We do really cool prizes and it’s an attainable event for people,” Shelley says. “They can do neighbors competing against neighbors.” Amateurs do not sell their barbecue beef brisket, pork ribs, chicken or pork shoulder. Instead, they make and provide a food sample to judges.
Hometown Property Management sponsors the People’s Choice Awards. Owner Andrew Barkis gives the festival high marks. “We have been on board since day one,” Barkis says of his business’s participation in the rally. “The Yelm Chamber has been great, including during COVID. They have gone all out to help the community.”
There is still time for vendors and competitors to sign up. Professional food vendors and businesses can reserve a space for $150 as a Chamber member and $250 as a non-member. The amateurs’ cooking competition entry fee is $50. Chamber Executive Director Line Roy says these fees go to the Chamber’s Business Economic Recovery Task Force’s grant program providing financial assistance to area businesses. “It was started in 2020,” she says. “It has given away nearly $30,000 to local businesses.”
It’s not just the food, but the performances, too, that make this event special. Musicians and other performers will entertain on two stages all day. “The entertainment is top notch,” says Dan. Rock out with country music singer-songwriter Dakota Poorman; local favorite Clown Fish a rock, country and oldies band; and the Prohibition Band a rock and country band. Additional performances by a dance team, flame throwers, aerialists and more are spread throughout the day.
Several games will also be underway to amuse both adults and kids. In addition to the park’s playground and splash pad, activities feature a bounce house, a pie-eating contest and more as part of this year’s larger event. Additions this year include barbecue-related product demonstrations and a cooling station at the Yelm Community Center. “We are expanding our footprint onto the street,” says Shelley. “The city of Yelm has been amazing in working with us.”
And Line agrees, “We have a great partnership.”
The country radio station 96.9 KAYO will broadcast from the rally for part of the day. “We went out there for the first time last year and it was a really awesome event,” says Nick Kerry, the station’s general manager and sales director. “It’s a wonderful community event with lots going on. It has such a hometown feeling right there in Yelm.”
July 23 will be here before you know it. Visit the Nisqually Valley Barbecue Rally website or contact the Chamber to register for a cooking competition, sign up as a sponsor, or rent a vendor space.
Nisqually Valley Barbecue Rally
115 Mosman Ave SE, Yelm
July 23, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
360.458.6608
Sponsored
