— By Christina Campbell

Times Correspondent

Seventh-graders Jade Stevenson and Sierra Fields roamed downtown Fort Gibson on Saturday and offered cotton candy for sale.

"We're hanging out and having fun," Stevenson said.  "Selling is just a bonus."

When asked which vendor had the best barbecue at the “3rd annual Smokin’ the Fort BBQ Cookoff and Bluegrass Festival,” Fields had a ready answer.

"My favorite barbecue is from Sonburst," she said. "They use fresh, fresh meat and it has a really good smoky flavor to it. It also helps that I know everyone on their team."

Only two competitors entered the "Fastest Recliner in the West" race.  Service Master from Muskogee defeated the Fort Gibson Fire Department both times.

"We purchased an old wheelchair and expanded it," said Billy D. Jones, who was pushing the chair for the fire department. "We did some welding and cutting and used a Harley crash bar as a push bar."

In the second heat, the Service Master team bumped the fire department team into the crowd, crashing their chair and causing some cosmetic damage to a grill up for raffle from the Fort Gibson Church of Christ. The chair managed to finish the race with just one front wheel loose.

"It takes an accident and keeps on ticking," Jones said.

Mark Seabolt with the Church of Christ said he was not worried about the grill.

"It has a story behind it, so it'll be more precious to anyone who wins it," Seabolt said. "It's just cosmetic damage. It's going to a good cause, to raise money for a cow for a family in Honduras."

 Hundreds of people descended on downtown for the cookoff Saturday.

Tim Ryals, Alyssa Hill and Tim Jones from Muskogee were cooking as a Kansas City Barbeque Society competition team called “Sizzlin' Bones BBQ.”

As the minutes ticked down to judging time, Hill chopped fresh parsley to garnish their competition plate.

"We've been on the competition circuit for three years now," he said. "We travel all over and do this for fun. We have been here at ‘Smokin' the Fort’ since it started."

Ryals said the team is improving their technique all around but have one specialty food.  

"Our chicken is the best,” he said. "We're getting better and better at it."

Sinclair Armstrong, manager of the Armstrong Bank barbecue team, said he has past catering experience. He also enjoys preparing meals at “Smokin' the Fort,” he said.

"We started preparations Tuesday night and began cooking on Wednesday morning," Armstrong said.  

The bank prepared 240 pounds of pork, 100 pounds of beef, 20 chickens, 75 pounds of hotlinks, 33 racks of ribs, 14 gallons of beans and 10 gallons of coleslaw, he said.

Armstrong said the team handed out 550 free meals Friday night.  

"We don't compete. We come out to feed our customers and the general public," Armstrong said.