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Rick Streiff                      "BBQbyDan" - Dan Cannon                "QN4U" - Brent Walton
    

 
Departure - Sunday, 14-August-2011
   
Sunday, 14-August-2011, Rick and Karen Streiff arrived to hook-up to my trailered 2 Ole Hickory pits that we were taking to Vancouver. We
needed to hook up with Brent Walton at his QN4U BBQ House restaurant as we were all going to Vancouver caravanning together, all towing trailers, and staying at KOA's each evening.
 
We arrived at the QN4U BBQ house, in Clovis California, at approximately 14:00. Brent and Kim sat down and we had a nice lunch prior to hooking up the required trailers and traveling the remaining 180 miles to the West Sacramento KOA for the evening. We left the BBQ House at 15:00 and arrived at the KOA approximately 19:00.
 
Enroute to Vancouver
    
Our plan was to leave on Sunday for Canada, stay at KOA's Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday evenings. Then arrive at the Canadian border early on Wednesday morning so as not to have a long delay crossing the border.
  
We did in fact arrive at the border approximately 09:30 (+/-) Wednesday morning. We were instructed to park the three trucks/trailers, go
inside to have our work permits issued (we had already obtained them at the Canadian consulate in Los Angeles), provide keys to the border agents, answer their questions, then roughly 30 minutes later we were okayed to proceed to the PNE venue for a two day booth setup to start vending cases of Pork Spareribs, Beef Tritip, Pork Butt, Smoked Sausage Links, Potato Salad, Beans, and Coca Cola Soda's and Water daily, for 17 days at the PNE Ribfest.
  
Arrival - Wednesday 17-August-2011
    
We arrived at the PNE vending booth setup area approximately 11:00 on Wednesday. As you can see in the pictures the booths or much of the facility had not yet been built up. To ensure we had the right spot and location we contacted Justin Kyllo of Smoke and Bones BBQ, to be located in a booth down from us. Justin was also the PNE Ribfest coordinator. He placed us and provided us with much of our needs during the entire event.  Just adjacent to us was Rob Reinhardt, Prairie Smoke & Spice BBQ, who was also in the process of setting up his booth as well.
  

Vending
  
The companies / restaurants / booths / teams that were on site and set up to vend BBQ were:
       

               
Smoke and Bones BBQ
Justin & Cheryl Kyllo & family
Vancouver Canada
www.SmokeandBones.ca 
SmokeandBones@me.com
       

     
QN4U BBQ House
Brent Walton
Clovis California
www.QN4UBBQHouse.com
BrentWalton2@Yanoo.com
   
and ( teams up together as QN4U for this great event )
   
BBQbyDan
   Agua Dulce California
< Catering Information & Pictures >
< Flyer / Menu >
< Testimonials >
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www.BBQbyDan.com
Dan@BBQbyDan.com
            

 
Prairie Smoke & Spice BBQ
Rob Reinhardt & family
Regina Saskatchewan Canada
www.PrairieBBQ.com
info@PrairieBBQ.com
              

       
Gator BBQ Company
Matt Smith and son Nick Smith
Ontario Canada
GatorBBQ@cablerocket.com
         

    
Crazy Canuck Smokers,
??? sorry, forgot to get proper names for this team !!!  If provided I will post !?!
      

  
The vending went on for 17 days straight.  Did somebody say "Groundhog Day" !!! Sure seemed like it. Up at 07:00 to receive the food deliveries and get everything setup. Close at 11:00 to midnight (depending up the crowds), booking and cleaning till 01:30 - 02:00.
  
Then get up and repeat this every morning. Everyday we did case after case of BBQ Ribs, Pork Butts, Smoked Sausage Links, TriTips, BBQ Beans, and Potato Salad. We had a crew of a dozen local Canadians that worked for us and were the BEST !!! The ring leader, Yvonne Ko, helped to secure a lot of the participants as we needed help and needed people that were reliable and would show up everyday, work hard, and provide our customers the "best of the best" service. AND, all our people that very well!!!
    
What a great crew we had !!!  Their names were:
   
Yvonne Ko (Ring-leader), Clint Mofakham, Jordan Leveille, Kevin Coates, Toby Zhang,
Eric Kan, Andrew Yang, Bartosz Suchorowski, Amber Frost, Kevin Beaulieu, and Kevin
     
Sorry to anybody I missed.  Please send your name and I will post.  I tried hard to get it right!

Also, special thanks to Lorraine Brett, PNE Exhibit Manager, and Justin & Cheryl Kyllo, RibFest PNE Event Coordinators for making everything so easy for us, facilitating our every need, and making the overall experience very comfortable !!!
Also, a few other mentions:
Josh the PNE Plumber made everything perfect reference to water, drainage, and hook-up facilitation
Danny and his Electrical team who worked so hard to ensure all the power requirements were met and perfect during the entire event
Ron the Coca Cola service person who helped us every day with mechanical or refrigeration needs
Bill with Gordon Food Services (GFS) who ensured we had food product in our hands every day
Rick Bone who was there everyday to help us with our food facilitation needs, and just general vending requirements
and again to all those I forgot to mention who worked for us and made it so easy to sell BBQ product to all the PNE attendees.
Okay Brent... I will not mention your GREAT adventure  with parking !!!
  
17 days was a LONG time to be working this hard. I probably have not worked this hard since I was in the Army, Basic Training to be exact. We were all tired and beat, except that is for Brent Walton. Since he is a BBQ machine he kept on non-stop and never showed any wear for the grueling schedule. Maybe operating his restaurant, QN4U BBQ House for the last 3-4 years has built up his stamina and expectations of what each day brings.

We ended up leaving Tuesday. The fair ended on Monday (September 4th, a holiday) evening. Left Tuesday, the next day.
         
Departure Tuesday, 6-September-2011
     
Needless to say all the folks from all the booths were all ready for the last day. We were all planning a "Wrap Party" after closing. Along
with starting the booth breakdown !!! Of course that partying and booth breakdown did not end till roughly 04:00 am !!! BUT, I have to say that Brent, with hired help, had 3/4's of the breakdown completed. And, with all those big signs and banners that had to be built and attached that is saying a lot! Rick Bone was a big help with everything, including the breakdown. It was also nice to sit with everybody that had made the Ribfest happen and successful in a relaxing and social way versus the harsh work environment we had all worked through the previous 17 straight days of BBQ vending !!!
   
Everybody returned by 09:00 the next morning and we finalized the packing of everything into the 3 trailers. We were the first team to be
finished, done, packed, and enroute back to home. We ended up pulling out at roughly 03:00 pm.

We were planning on getting back into the USA and at the first KOA we could hit across the border, thus, we arrived at roughly 06:00 and were finally ready for a relaxing adult beverage, debriefing, and a bit of relaxation and self-congratulations by all.

Enroute & Arrival Home - Saturday 10-September-2011
   
The trip home was relaxing and enjoyable! Finally we were able to rest and relax a bit. AND, not put 32 butts on the pits each night and 4 cases of ribs in the Ole Hickory's at sun-up.

We traveled 550 miles the 2nd day, long, and pulled into the next KOA at roughly 09:00. Much to the dismay of all our neighboring campers as we did not hit the sack till midnight!
  
Then the next day 90 miles to the Mount Shasta KOA where we arrived by noon, relaxed, had a nice dinner, and really came to a stop for the longest time during the entire month-long journey.
 
Pulled out the next day and landed 400 miles later at Clovis, the QN4U BBQ House, where we could really relax, be at home, and finally feel like the vent was about at an end.
  
Rick, Karen, and I stayed overnight after a nice dinner and social time provided by Brent and Kim, then headed home the next day (Saturday) to arrived at the BBQbyDan residence around noon! Finally, the month long adventure / journey, was complete.
   
One week later and we are all still tired and sore. When will it end   ???

Pictures below :

An artistic piece done by a local Canadian at his metal fabrication company.  Welded in Surgical stainless &  polished to a mirror finish.  The artists welds designs, creates, and welds the entire piece heard that it was being sold to a purchaser in Hong Kong for 4.5 million.  But, that is just not official and what I heard from folks standing by the dragon and it could  be just people talking!
  

We teamed up for the contest
and vending
   

What a great crew we had helping us the QN4U BBQ Rib Fest Booth !!!  Their names were:
   
Yvonne Ko (Ring-leader), Clint Mofakham, Jordan Leveille, Kevin Coates, Toby Zhang,
Eric Kan, Andrew Yang, Bartosz Suchorowski, Amber Frost, Kevin Beaulieu, and Kevin.
      
Sorry to anybody I missed.  Please send you name and I will post.  I tried hard to get it right!
    

Rick Bone, Helped QN4U BBQ House
A WHOLE BUNCH !!!
   

Matt Smith (Gator BBQ booth) 
& Brent Walton (QN4U Booth)
   

Brent Walton, Karen & Rick Streiff, and myself Hanging at a KOA's to and from Vancouver
   

  
The companies / restaurants / booths / teams that were on site and set up to vend BBQ were:
               
Smoke and Bones BBQ
Justin & Cheryl Kyllo & family
Vancouver Canada
www.SmokeandBonesBBQ.ca 
SmokeandBones@me.com
     

       
QN4U BBQ House
Brent Walton
Clovis California
www.QN4UBBQHouse.com
BrentWalton2@Yanoo.com
     

    
   BBQbyDan Inc.
   Agua Dulce California
< Catering Information & Pictures >
< Flyer / Menu >
< Testimonials >
< Awards for Cooking Excellence >
www.BBQbyDan.com
Dan@BBQbyDan.com
       

    

    

 
Prairie Smoke & Spice BBQ
Rob Reinhardt & family
Regina Saskatchewan Canada
www.PrairieBBQ.com
info@PrairieBBQ.com
    
 
     

    
Gator BBQ Company
Matt Smith and son Nick Smith
Ontario Canada
GatorBBQ@cablerocket.com
    

    

 
Crazy Canuck Smokers,
??? sorry, forgot to get proper names for this team !!!  If provided I will post !?!
   

   

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