EASTLAND, TX – A smoke-filled day of fun is set for this Saturday in downtown Eastland when the 9th Annual Rip’s Ribs Cook Off takes place. Kicking off at 9 A.M. with a mandatory cook’s meeting. The event runs through the day ending up at 5:30 pm when the winners are announced. Vendors of all types will be set up for those in attendance.
Entertainment throughout the day will be provided by various Jazz bands from the Region that have been put together by Grammy Award Winner, Stephen Cox, Band Director of Eastland High School. Bands will play at three different stages around the square from 10:00 am – 4:00 pm. If you enjoy dancing head over to the lyric theatre at 5:30 to enjoy swing dance lessons, then show off your moves starting at 6:00 pm.
Judging of the St. Louis Style pork ribs will begin at 4:00 p.m. Awarding of the $2,600 in prizes will begin at 5:30, with the top ribs taking home $1,000, second place receiving $750, third place will take home $500 with 4th and 5th places netting $250 and $150 respectively. Cash prizes and trophies will also be awarded to the 1st place winner in People’s Choice Categories: Appetizers, Beans, Desserts, and Meats.
Judging this year will be:
Roy C Dennis was born and raised in Roby Texas until he traveled east to attend Tarleton State University. He purchases his first Convenience store(The Quickway) in Cisco Texas in 1976. He began cooking and smoking meats shortly after and hasn’t stopped yet. Today, alongside his family, he owns and operates two BBQ Restaurants, one in Mineral Wells, and one 5 miles South of I20 on Hwy 281. His Restaurants are called “Natty Flat Smokehouse” with the primary location located just a half-mile south of the Natty Flat community. His Restaurant is hard to miss with the Guiness Book of Records World’s largest Cedar Rocking Chair sitting out front. Natty Flat Smokehouse has won multiple awards for its outstanding BBQ and has been featured in magazines such as Travel, and Texas Highways on more than one occasion.
Zack Mauney is the Vice President of Texas Beef Company. Texas Beef Company is a family-owned business that was established in 2020 meeting a need for Premium High-Quality Beef. Our beef is USDA inspected allowing us to ship great Texas Beef all over the country. We spent many years perfecting our genetics to ensure that our beef is of the highest quality. Our mission is to provide your family with the highest quality, sustainable raised, all-natural beef available on the market today!
Lindsay Flores is the General Manager at Lytle Land and Cattle in Abilene, Texas. I have been employed here since June 12th of 2017. Starting off as a server, then being promoted to Front of House Manager, and now General Manager. I am very active in our community, my passion for serving people and helping others is my motivation to keep striving for success. I serve on three committees, I am now the Senior Vice President for the Abilene Chapter of the Texas Restaurant Association, I actively participate in Abilene Young Professional’s serving on the hospitality portion of the Summit that we do in Abilene every year. During my downtime I help with the auction for CBB, supporting Breast Cancer Awareness. I look forward to being a guest in the Eastland Community and thank you so much for the opportunity.
Aaron Vaughan is a sales representative for Pro Earth Animal Health. Originally from New Mexico, Aaron was heavily involved in agriculture and graduated from Eastern New Mexico University with an Ag Science Degree. Since college Aaron has been involved in oil & gas and agriculture industries which has taken him all over the state of Texas. Aaron loves working with agriculture producers now to help get the best finished product to the consumer! He and his family of four currently reside in Santo, TX.
Brandon Scott Thomas spent 20 years in Nashville as a producer and vocalist in the music and entertainment business. He now lives in Abilene with his 3 kids ( Maddie and Ella at ACU and Sam, sophomore at AHS). Brandon is an agent for Perkins Insurance and takes care of commercial clients around Texas and in Nashville.
Dylan Smith – I’ve grown up and lived in Texas my entire life. I lived near Corpus, then moved to San Antonio. I attended Texas A&M University and graduated with a B.S. of Meteorology. I came to Abilene about 5 years ago and have since moved my way up to Chief Meteorologist of KRBC for over 3 years now. I know a lot about the weather…The second thing I think I know the most about is BBQ.
John Boyett – My family has lived on the same land in Eastland County since the 1880s. During that time it’s gone from a dairy operation, to feeder calves, to now a cow calf operation. The family ranching business skipped a generation but I’ve made it my mission to bring it back bigger than it was before. I grew up in Mansfield, TX and but recently moved to Eastland County to build on the family ranch and grow my career as a farm and ranch realtor. I serve all of north and central Texas in residential real estate with my focus being farm and ranch real estate.
