As a professional Event Planner I felt like I was walking into a County Fair when I arrived at the BBQ Festival. My biggest complaint is that it's very difficult to see why you should pay a $12 entry to get into a BBQ event where you still have to pay $5-10 for food in long lines. The GA basically gets you into a dirt lot with a lot of food vendors and a band stuck back in the corner. It's a BBQ event where my $12 GA doesn't even get me wet naps, hand sanitizer stations, a mister system (as i hear last year was super hot), or much shaded seating. Even the first aid station isn't private or shaded.
The cocktails are only $6 which is great. Thank goodness we arrived after 2:00 because I can't imagine how long the food lines must have been at noon! Much of the BBQ is overpriced. One place was charging $30 for a rack of ribs, and they had already run out of their whole menu. So it was a 30 minute wait after placing your order to get food.
The vodka tent was $20 for 10 samples. For mid-day in the heat most people should not be sampling 10 different vodkas, that is absurd. And I get it BBQ doesn't need to come with a bunch of bells and whistles. But the price tags should reflect that. For two of us, we had one cocktail each and a LIGHT sampling of food from a small handful of stands. Total cash blown through from the time of arrival- about $75. Ouch.