2024 HORSE TOWN BREW N’ QUE

JUNE 1, 2024

featuring

Pit Master Rod Gray

2x James Beard Winner Adrian Miller

R&B Icon Lakeside

GEORGE INGALLS EQUESTRIAN EVENT CENTER, NORCO, CA

THE ORIGINAL CALIFORNIA BREW N QUE FESTIVAL©

OFFICIALLY CALIFORNIA'S LARGEST BBQ COMPETITION

Honored in 2023

Event Organizer, Debbie Yopp, announced the Horse Town Brew n’ Que Festival, California’s largest BBQ competition, will return to Norco June 1, 2024.  BBQ contestants travel thousands of miles to compete as the event is considered the premiere BBQ contest in California. It has attracted international barbeque competitors as well as celebrity chefs from Australia and Mexico and pitmasters who are seen on television shows featured on Netflix and the Food Network stations.  The event is sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbecue Society (KCBS), the world’s largest organization dedicated to barbeque. In addition to the adult pro and backyard competition, the contest also hosts a Junior Que which allows youth between 6 and 16 years old to compete. 

Now in its’ 8^th year, The Brew n’ Que Festival highlights a variety of food, live entertainment, and craft beer while taking a backdoor peak into the world of competition barbeque. Over 50 barbecue teams will compete for thousands of dollars in cash and prizes and most importantly, bragging rights. The family-friendly event offers craft beer sampling from award-winning brewers and attendees can sample and purchase barbeque which is prepared on-site. Brew n’ Que also hosts a classic car show, a rock-climbing wall, a petting zoo as well as arts and crafts.  Attendees may cast a vote for their favorite craft beer or barbecue.

Brew n’ Que’s soundtrack is a backdrop of live music and entertainment featuring Blues, Pop, R&B and Country music. Country crowd favorites, Brad Johnson and the Killin’ Time will keep the guests kick’n in their boots and the Paul Chense Band will shake it up with their unique approach to rock. Grammy nominated Blues legend, Ray Brooks and the Bluzmasters take blues to a higher level. Headlining is a musical icon, LAKESIDE, whose chart-topping hits “Fantastic Voyage”, “It’s All The Way Live” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” are R&B classics.

Two-time James Beard Award winner, Adrian Miller, will anchor the “Meat and Greet” panel discussion which is the opening kick-off activity that will be held Friday, May 31^st at Nelly Weaver Hall.  Kansas City BBQ Society CEO, Rod Gray and celebrity barbeque chef, Harry Soo, will join him. The trio will examine the control of fire and its global impact on human development as well as the evolution and diversity of American BBQ and its unsung heroes. An added “back porch blues” medley will be performed by Grammy-nominated Ray Brooks.

Media are invited but must be credentialed.

A separate paid ticket for the May 31st “Meat and Greet” event will include a copy of Miller’s latest book and complimentary “Bourbon, BBQ and Beer,” sponsored by Papi’s Bourbon, Compart Duroc Pork and the West Coast Blues Society.

“We are getting a one-two punch with Lakeside, Adrian Miller and Rod Gray,” notes Yopp.  “Lakeside will get the arena jumping!” Yopp adds. “and..your general admission ticket offers you a full show of live music featuring, country, rock, R&B and Blues.”

BREW N-QUE SCHEDULE

FRIDAY – 05/31/2024

• §MEAT N’ GREET
• JAMES BEARD AWARDEE “ADRIAN MILLER” KCBS CEO “ROD GRAY” “CELEBRITY CHEF, HARRY SOO”
• 6:00 PM – 7:00PM – SPIRITS & TASTING WITH BACK PORCH BLUES PERFORMED BY GRAMMY NOMINATED, RAY BROOKS
• 7:00 PM – 9:00PM – PANEL DISCUSSION
• BOOK SIGNING

SATURDAY – 06/01/2024

ARENA ONE

• 12:00 PM – DOORS OPEN
• 12:00 PM – 5:00 PM – BBQ, BEER SAMPLING, ENTERTAINMENT
• 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM – BBQ AWARDS & PEOPLE’S CHOICE
• KIDS CORNER 
• CAR SHOW
• MARKETPLACE

ARENA 2- BBQ COMPETITION VILLAGE

BBQ Competitors are submitting entries to the judges: Please respect their competition time

• 12:00 PM – CHICKEN TURN IN
• 12:30 PM – RIBS TURN IN
• 1:00 PM – PORK TURN IN
• 1:30 PM – BRISKET TURN IN
• 2:00-5:00 PM – MEET THE BBQ TEAMS

**Artist and times are subject to change**

**BBQ Teams are fully available after they turn in their entry to the judges*

Tickets are now on sale. A limited number of VIP seats are available that includes fresh barbeque craft beer and a souvenir gift. Last year VIP seats sold out!

In addition, limited tickets are avail for the Opening “Meat and Greet”.

For more information ON TICKETS, info to become MEDIA SPONSOR, GET CREDENTIALED, SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES click here.

To become a contestant, to secure limited vending opportunities, or to purchase VIP TICKETS, MEAT & GREET TICKETS visit www.brewnquefestival.com,

email info@brewnquefestival.com or call 951-444-1280. 

Media seeking interviews, and/or to attend MEAT AND GREET Friday, May, 31, 2024, or to be a MEDIA Partner please send requests to KimiRhochelle, Celebrity Publicist / KRPR Media info@krprmedia.com

ABOUT DEBBIE YOPP

Debbie Yopp has been an active member of the human services and business community for over 25 years. Her experiences in career development, guidance, education and business have garnered her national recognition and awards. She has developed and managed several groundbreaking assessment and remedial programs such as “SOS” (Skills of Survival) and was named one of Los Angeles County’s 50 most spirited women. In 1999, she co founded the Latin Sounds Initiative and has and has served on executive boards of several non-profit organizations dedicated to youth, art, education and human rights. Her work with local, state and Federal programs such as the Americorp program has created unique opportunities where businesses and community-based organizations formed successful partnerships.

As a pioneering agent for visual artists, Yopp represented the nation's preeminent creative icons such as actor Bernie Casey and Charles Bibbs and developed innovative business models for marketing visual art. As managing editor of Images Magazine, Yopp outlined a template for selling and collecting art which is still in use today. Her campaigns and projects for the City of Kansas City, Howard University, Artist Salute to Black History Month, University of Arizona, Ontario Mills, Monterey Blues Festival and Universal Amphitheater gained Yopp awards and national recognition. She has also worked with Roger Penske, Loma Linda University and Vince Ferragamo, raising money and awareness for community programs. Yopp completed her undergraduate and graduate studies at the University of La Verne but never stopped learning to create successful opportunities for her clients and their businesses. Her consulting work in marketing, image management and public service aligns her skills and service with her passion for giving. As Vice Chair of the West Coast Blues Society and executive director of Service through Action, Yopp is committed to dedicated service and will extend any additional time on special projects as needed.

ABOUT ADRIAN MILLER

Miller, a food writer, culinary historian, public policy advisor and certified barbecue judge, received an A.B in International Relations from Stanford University in 1991, and a J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1995. From 1999 to 2001, Miller served as a special assistant to President Bill Clinton with his Initiative for One America – the first freestanding office in the White House to address issues of racial, religious and ethnic reconciliation. Miller went on to serve as a senior policy analyst for Colorado Governor Bill Ritter Jr. From 2004 to 2010, he served on the board for the Southern Foodways Alliance.

In June 2019, Adrian lectured in the Masters of Gastronomy program at the Università di Scienze Gastronomiche (nicknamed the “Slow Food University”) in Pollenzo, Italy. He is currently the executive director of the Colorado Council of Churches and, as such, is the first African American, and the first layperson, to hold that position.



Miller’s first book, Soul Food: The Surprising Story of an American Cuisine, One Plate at a Time won the James Beard Foundation Award for Scholarship and Reference in 2014. His second book, The President’s Kitchen Cabinet: The Story of the African Americans Who Have Fed Our First Families, From the Washingtons to the Obamas was published on President’s Day 2017. It was a finalist for a 2018 NAACP Image Award for “Outstanding Literary Work – Non-Fiction,” and the 2018 Colorado Book Award for History. In 2022, Miller received a second James Beard award for his recent book, Black Smoke: African Americans and the United States of Barbecue

ABOUT HARRY SOO

Harry Soo entered the world of competition barbeque with his team Slap Yo Daddy and quickly became one of most recognized competition barbeque teams. As one of the top ranked Kansas City BBQ Society teams in America, Slap Yo Daddy BBQ, was selected from among over 5,000 professional teams to appear on TLC’s BBQ Pitmasters Season One. In the Season Finale, SYD stunned the nation by defeating all the teams in the show including two BBQ World Champions in the winner-take-all Rib Throwdown in Texas.

A celebrity chef and major barbeque influencer, Soo’s barbeque realm includes television appearances, a renown line of barbeque rubs and sauces, sold out classes, national and international speaking engagements and an online social media presence with over 190,000 YouTube subscribers and nearly 1,000 posted videos.

ABOUT ROD GRAY

As CEO of the Kansas City BBQ Society, Gray oversees the operations of the world’s largest organization dedicated to promoting and enjoying barbeque. With a 20-year history as a competitive pitmaster, his team, Pellet Envy, LLC, competed in over five hundred contests, traveling over 500,000 miles and winning 62 grand championships. As a business owner, Gray has over 20 years of experience managing product lines, marketing initiatives and developing brand sponsorships in the barbecue cookoff industry. He blended his business talents, followed his culinary dreams, and developed EAT Barbecue, a line of rubs and sauces now on store shelves across the country.

ABOUT LAKESIDE

Ohio native  Mark Woods forms the nucleus of Lakeside, one of R &B’s most enduring and successful bands. Originally named the Lakeside Express, the band transported from Dayton, Ohio to Los Angeles where they performed at local events and venues including the legendary Maverick Flats. While in Los Angeles, Lakeside inked deals with Motown and ABC Records but found no success. Eventually, they found success when they signed with Solar Records with their first Top Ten hit on Solar Records, "It's All the Way Live," which peaked at number four on the Billboard R&B charts.

Lakeside released a host of songs that scaled the R&B charts but hit platinum with the release of their smash hit, “Fantastic Voyage,” which was produced by the band. The song would become a hit a second time with a remake by Coolio. They followed the success of "Fantastic Voyage" with another Top Ten R&B single, a remake of the Paul McCartney and John Lennon classic "I Want to Hold Your Hand." The group continued their success with the Billboard Top Ten singles "Raid," "Outrageous," and a string of R&B party songs and ballads.

If your head is moving side to side or if you can not control your feet and hands, LAKESIDE IS IN THE HOUSE… and its all the way live.