Chamber adds flavorful event

The city is already a destination for shuffleboard players and sky divers from around the world.

Now, officials with the Zephryhills Chamber of Commerce hope to lure locals and out-of-towners to Pigz in Z'Hills BBQ & Blues Fest. The inaugural event, featuring a barbecue competition, live music and antique car show, is scheduled for Oct. 30 at Krusen Field in Zephyrhills.

"We're hoping it will become a signature event for the community," said Vonnie Mikkelsen, executive director of the chamber. "It's been a lot of fun planning. We just started talking about it with a blank sheet of paper on white board and it just came about. It's going to be family friendly and easy-going - just like Zephyrhills."

Besides establishing a community event, Mikkelsen hopes the event's barbecue contest will someday be sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbecue Society or Florida Bar-B-Que Association.

The Pigz in Z'Hills barbecue contest will be held in two categories: backyard and professional; guidelines are based on those established by the Florida and Kansas City organizations.

"We want to make sure we're not straying too far away (from accepted rules), so when we invite those organizations in to see what we do and review our site plans, we'll know all the specific requirements," Mikkelsen said.

If either barbecue association chooses to someday sanction the Zephyrhills event, they will supply certified judges.

"When contests become sanctioned, you get pros coming in from around the world," Mikkelsen said. "It's not necessarily restaurants, but people with professional equipment who travel in RVs and compete. They love coming away with trophies."

Food will be sold at the event.

Several teams, including those representing the city's Public Works department, Zephyrhills Fire Rescue and Rotary Club of Zephyrhills, have already signed up for the event. Entry forms are available at the chamber office on Fifth Avenue. Deadline for teams and vendors is Oct. 15.

Blues acts Dr. Blues Cold Iron and Liz Pennock are expected to perform.

Chamber President Mike Mira, who owns Maine-ly New England Restaurant, said he hopes the event will help boost tourism dollars as well as provide a fun activity.

"There are a lot of regional events and lots of municipalities have barbecue festivals, and we've never really had anything like that in Zephyrhills," he said.

He also looks forward to competing in the barbecue competition.

"I do full-line catering, as well, and we've got world-famous ribs," Mira said. "It's hard to say how many (contestants) we'll have. It's still a little early, but we're starting to get more entries coming in. We could have 30 or 40 teams out there."