Buellton holds its annual BBQ Bonanza, and the Women Winemakers and Culinarians Foundation holds its BroBBQ in Los Olivos on July 26
It was a picturesque, sunny day in the Santa Ynez Valley on Saturday, July 26, warm, but not too hot, and the perfect day to hold a barbecue. Well, the Valley got two notable ones on this day.
At River View Park, the City of Buellton held its 23rd annual BBQ Bonanza, where all of the city’s residents were invited for a free barbecue lunch and many fun activities to go with it. Meanwhile, later that day in Los Olivos, just past the point where Alamo Pintado Road becomes Santa Barbara Avenue, the Women Winemakers and Culinarians Foundation gave some of the men a chance to show their grilling skills at the inaugural BroBBQ.
The Buellton BBQ Bonanza was started in Buellton more than two decades ago by the city’s Parks and Rec Department to thank the residents of Buellton for their support in making the city a great place to live, and has become a summertime staple in town.
“It’s been a good day today,” said Buellton Parks and Rec Director Paul Smith. “I got to meet a lot of new families, and we’ve been able to get in a lot of activities and entertainment that has just run the gamut of fun things to do.”
Along with the delicious barbecue food being served up, the event also offered plenty of fun things, like blowup waterslides for the kids, games and activities, and even a karaoke machine at one of the booths.
“We even had an Elvis impersonator come in earlier, and he sung the entire ‘Trilogy’ of songs he’s famous for,” Smith said.
Another successful Bonanza came and went, and another one will be planned next summer.
Meanwhile, a little later that afternoon on a property off Santa Barbara Avenue in Los Olivos, the Women’s Winemaker and Culinarians Foundation, a nonprofit whose mission is “to empower and support female winemakers and culinarians by fostering a community that champions their craft, creativity, and leadership,” according to the group’s website, put some of the men on the grills for the first-ever BroBBQ.
According to the organization’s Karen Steinwachs, the BroBBQ came about inadvertently due to some complaints about the food at the group’s fundraiser in March.
“We had our big fundraising event where our female chefs displayed their cooking skills, and it was vegan and gluten- and sugar-fee cookout,” Steinwachs said. “Anyway, some of the menfolk came around asking why there wasn’t any meat dishes, and we said ‘Well, if you want some meat cooked so bad organize other barbecue and cook it yourself, and we put the event together.”
Brooke Stockwell, a former Valley chef who recently moved to the Bay Area, came back down to organize the roster of male cooks, dubbed the “GrillMeisters.”
“I was sort of the wrangler of the cooks, and I’m still doing it. We’re all enjoying our wine and conversation and I’m trying to get them to start cooking,” Stockwell said with a laugh.
The team of GrillMeisters are considered locally famous for their barbecuing skills, according to Steinwachs. Don Layton, Rafik Tadros, Nate “Tater” Stricker, Loren Tarquinio, Mike Mesikip, Dan Dominquez, Ryan Layton, and Randy Jones were out grilling sausages, elk tips, ribs, tri-tip, tofu (!), brisket, lamb lollipops, artichokes, seasonal veggies, and sides! And while savoring the aroma of the different grills, attendees got to sample a number of wines.
