Trinity Lutheran Church in Perry packed a day’s worth of activities into its Saturday event, called the Father’s Day Smoke Off but also including a bags tournament and numerous activities for adults and children.
Ralan Nelson of Perry and the father-son team of Brian and Dalton Scott of Perry contended in the smoke off, and the judges for the smoke off faced a choice akin to the judgment of Solomon when confronted by Nelson’s tender smoked chicken wings and Scott’s savory smoked pork loins.
There was no choice but to divide the meat and eat.
Nelson’s poultry took the prize if only because the day was otherwise so heavily weighted with swine flesh as the third annual Baccoon Ride passed through Perry.
“It was a hard choice because both were excellent,” said honorary smoke-off judge Bob Wilson of Perry, executive director of the Perry-Area Chamber of Commerce. “In the end, we all felt the chicken deserved its due, too.”
Wilson’s fellow judge, ThePerryNews.com’s Jim Caufield, was of one mind with Wilson.
“Of Iowa’s 20 million hogs, this has got to be the most succulent, but nothing beats eating chicken,” said the bringer of good news and bad.
Trinity Lutheran Pastor Ken Bose, who stood by as a tiebreaker in the event of a split vote, thanked the smoke-off entrants and invited the audience to the generous lunch of hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, salads, homemade bars and ice cream.
While the adults sampled wines, listened to the mellow guitar stylings of Bose and browsed the goods brought the the event by various vendors, the children amused themselves with ladder gold, a bounce house and tricycle races.
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