By NICOLE LOGGINS / Staff Writer

COLUMBIANA – Local residents, visitors and  cook teams braved the rain to participate in the second annual Shelby County’s Best BBQ Cook-Off March 30.

Despite the wet weather, the all-day event went on, and according to South Shelby Executive Director Stacy Walkup,  the event had more attendees than the previous year.

“It was so much fun, and we had so many more people than we had last year and the food was great,” Walkup said.

Awards were presented to multiple cook teams in the following categories: chef’s specialty, best ribs, best sauce, best overall and the people’s choice award.

Chef’s specialty winners were 3 Amigos in first place, The Shelby County Reporter in second place and Megabytes in third place.

The best ribs went to Alagasco with The Shelby County Reporter coming in second place and 3 Amigos in third.

3 Amigos won first place in best sauce with Alagasco following in second place and AC Legg in third place.

Sullivan Communication was named the people’s choice winner and the Best of Show award went to Alabama Power, for best overall ribs and sauce.

Walkup said 30 Boston butts were sold, and the tasting was more successful this year.

“It was a great crowd,” Walkup said. “The tasting seemed to go a lot better this year, (the teams) had lots of meat and were ready for (all the attendees).”

Walkup said she hopes the event will continue to grow each year.

“We tried new things this year and it really paid off. These things can grow really big,” she said. “I think this is something that’s a lot of fun for a lot of people.”