Photos: Grillin’ On The Bay

This year’s Grillin On The Bay and Brooklyn Chili Smackdown was the largest yet, with more than 1,000 visitors converging in Sheepshead Bay to attend the city’s only grilling competition (and Brooklyn’s largest BBQ event).

The 5th year of the annual event drew 27 teams and 36 judges from places as far-flung as Massachusetts and Virginia. For the chili competition – a people’s choice event – attendees drowned in 30 pots of chili (just about all of it was gone hours before the school closed up shop).

And it paid off, too. Proceeds broke every previous record by the organizers, racking in nearly $5,000 for St. Mark Elementary School (East 18th Street and Avenue Z).

As for me, I had a wild time. The first few hours were split between judging the BBQ competition then running out to meet readers who stopped by our table. I easily met a couple dozen people who read the site – so to those people, thanks for stopping by! For those who came by while I was behind the scenes, thank you too! We’ll just have to meet at the next event.

And of course, a big thank you goes out to Robert Fernandez, the Sheepshead Bay resident who organizes the event every year.

After the judging, I had the pleasure of hanging out with all those readers who lingered – and, of course, Sheepshead Bites’ fantastic staff of volunteers and supporters – and quaffed down a couple of discounted beers (note for next year: beer prices tumble as it gets later in the game).

Read on after the jump to see the results of the competition and two galleries of photos (one of photos throughout the day, the other of the awards ceremony).

Photo of Grillin’ On The Bay and Sheepshead Bites’ meetup

Event results (photos of winners are below)

Ribs (Top 5)

Fish (Top 5)

Chicken (Top 5)

Chef’s Choice (Top 5)

People’s Choice Chili Smackdown (Top 3)

1 Wild Wood BBQ
2 The Moose Is Loose
3 Virgil’s BBQ