CRESTVIEW — When Hub City Smokehouse owner and pit master Mike Carroll couldn’t convince Crestview Area Chamber of Commerce Triple B Cook-Off organizers to extend the festival an extra block south, he organized his own event.
Families rolled around in KnockerBalls by Carroll’s South Main Street restaurant March 19 while others strolled the block-long “extra” event admiring classic cars and vendors’ wares, including the Crestview Community Garden’s member-grown plants and produce.
With barbecue’s aroma in the air, along with music, street vendors and outdoor tables, little differentiated Carroll’s block party from the Triple B two blocks north.
A disc jockey and the First Baptist Church of Holt youth band filled the block with music. The band’s director, Boe Miller, said the group checked last month if they could play at the Triple B but “but they were all booked up.”
As for Carroll, he may make the event a regular occasion. “We’re hoping to do this the first Friday of every month,” he said.
Former chamber president Derek Lott, whose wife, Valerie, is the chamber CEO, said organizers tried to get Carroll to participate in the Triple B, “but he didn’t want to.”
Carroll said after the Main Street Crestview Association extended the 2015 Fall Festival an extra block south, he hoped the chamber of commerce would do the same.
Though the Triple B in the past has stretched from the courthouse south to the railroad tracks, this year it stopped at Woodruff Avenue, leaving an empty block between the festival and Carroll’s event.
Had the Triple B extended south to encompass the extra block, Derek Lott said, Carroll couldn’t participate as a competitor out of his restaurant under the Florida Barbecue Association’s rules, which the Triple B follows. The FBA forbids pit masters from working out of their permanent locations. All competitors must set up mobile kitchens on Main Street the night before the festival.
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Correction: Two quotes from Crestview Area Chamber of Commerce President Valerie Lott were included out of context. We regret the error and have removed the quotes.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview restaurant's street festival could become monthly event (PHOTOS, VIDEO)