Devil Duck’s Trip To Mecca, Part 3

My apologies, faithful readers, on the delay of getting this final part posted. Things have been a little hectic here at Devil Duck Central, but now I’m ready to give you the final part of my coverage of the Fiery Foods Show.

Judgment Day

It’s Saturday morning and all of the vendors are busy restocking their booths and drawing out their battle plans. There are a few attendees and wholesalers milling about and trying sauces that they didn’t get to sample the day before. The mood in the Ballroom of Doom is tense, but for the most part everyone is in good spirits. I personally revisited a few of the newcomers to the show to see how they faired the previous day and took some more notes on some companies I missed due to my molar meltdown (aka: sucker punch).

11:00am

This is the view from the ticket booth. The public is patiently waiting for the gates to open. Chileheads young and old from all over the world (I met a guy from Sweden who makes the trip annually) are talking about all of the fiery goodness that lies ahead.

I quickly head back into the ballroom and warn everyone I could that the line has formed and the flood gates are about to let loose. John (The Creator) from Defcon Sauces and I head outside to have one final cigarette. He and his crew of hellions are ready for the mass of humanity that’s about to pour into the isles.

When the ticket booth opened, it was without fanfare. No bells sounded, no horns blared. There was just a steady stream of people, trickling at first, many just meandering about trying to find a place to start. As more and more people filled the lobby, there was a transformation from a body of water to a cattle drive. Blair’s booths, as well as the Danny Cash crew, were swarmed with chileheads looking for a sample. The famous “First Row” started to clog up and movement was getting near impossible. I tried desperately to stay just ahead of the masses because I had an interview to conduct. I had made my choice for my feature company and time was running short.

As I made my way (as politely as possible) through the crowd, I finally reached my destination…Torchbearer Sauces. Vid Lynch and Ben Smith run a tight little operation out of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Like most people in the business that I run into, they started making sauces for their friends and family. Eight uniquely different products adorned their booth, each with its own purpose. From their Sugar Fire Dessert Sauce to the #42 Slaughter Sauce, each one is a mouthful of joy. I’ll be doing a complete write up later, but I wanted to just introduce them to you now.

With my interview complete, I went through the isles checking in on some of my good friends in the biz to see if they needed anything from the outside world as they would be trapped behind their booths for hours. By this time, the crowd was getting a little too much for me to handle, and I had to make my retreat back to Devil Duck Central for a quick rest.

Later that evening, my wife and I met up with a bunch of vendors for the annual dinner at El Pinto. Dave DeWitt took the microphone and thanked everyone for a great success. Once again, attendance records were set and there were cheers all around. One big milestone, Dave told us, was that Montezuma Sauces has had a booth at every one of the twenty shows dating back to when the FFS was held in El Paso, TX.

After the dinner, we all headed back to Sandia Resort and Casino for some much needed “frosty adult beverages”. This is when things started to really get out of hand…but in a good way.

We met up with the Defcon crew, Danny Cash, MSK (Mississippi Sauce King), and put about four tables together. War stories were traded, and drinks flowed.

As you can see by all of the glassware on the table, no one was holding back. It was definitely time to let off some steam. As closing time happened upon us, we all said our good-byes for the evening. There is one day left to go…

SUNDAY

Our heroes are battle weary and a little foggy from the previous night’s festivities, but there was the light at the end of the tunnel and spirits were once again high. A few vendors were running low on product, but that was a good thing because that meant sales were being made and it was less to ship home.

Around the Ballroom of Doom I went, once again checking in on people to see if I could get them anything for the long day ahead. As I happened on the Defcon booth, I noticed they were holding up handfuls of cash to their blacklights adorning their tent. It seems that someone was passing counterfeit $1 and $5 bills and they glowed brightly against real money. Word quickly spread and there was a line of vendors wanting to check their money as well. However, when security was alerted, they seemingly did nothing to help out. Apparently, the Secret Service wouldn’t be interested in small counterfeit bills, according to them.

Once again, I retreated outside for a cigarette, and to chat with some other vendors, bloggers, and friends. This was the beginning of the last day, but everyone was already being reminiscent about the show and making plans for the evening…more “frosty adult beverages”. I had accomplished everything I had set out to do, so I slipped out and went home for some down time.

My wife and I arrived back at the scene around 6pm to say our heartfelt good-byes and thank you’s to all of the people who were leaving right after the show.

As promised, we also assisted the Defcon “Martyrs of Mayhem” tear down their booth and pack up their palette.

After I made a few runs to the car to store more sauces and pieces of booth, we once again headed to the rooftop bar for some fun. The drinks once again flowed and more war stories were traded.

This, my friends, is one helluva show. I just want to thank everyone for the sauce samples and good times. If you haven’t attended the Fiery Foods and BBQ Show in the past, start saving your money for next year’s event. You won’t be disappointed and you’ll definitely make a few new friends. Who knows, if everything goes right for me, you might be asking me for a sample of sauce from my own booth.

Devil Duck………………………………out.

THE END

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