The Coffee County Young Farmers placed second in the annual Georgia Young Farmer Que Fest on Friday, October 16, at the Georgia National Fairgrounds. In the past, the Que Fest would have been held in conjunction with the Sunbelt Agricultural Exposition. However, this year, due to COVID-19, the event was originally cancelled.
Crawford County Young Farmer Advisor Daryl Baxley was not going to allow this cancelation to stop his plan of fun, fellowship, and competition among Young Farmer members across Georgia to not occur. Daryl proposed to still hold the Que Fest and to move the Que Fest to the Georgia National Fair Livestock Show. One thing led to another, and soon, along with hosting a Que Fest for Young Farmer Chapters, the Georgia Young Farmers had the opportunity to provide BBQ plates to the swine exhibitors, families, Ag Ed Teachers, Extension Agents, and the Georgia National Fair staff on Friday night of the Georgia National Fair Swine Show. In all 90 butts were prepared and the Georgia Young Farmers served over 650 plates as a way to give back to our youth and encourage them to one day be a part of the Georgia Young Farmer Association. Prior to the passing out of the BBQ plates, Chip Blalock (Sunbelt Ag Expo) and Ron Carroll (Swisher) named the top six teams for the Que Fest, of which Coffee County Young Farmers placed second behind Crawford County Young Farmers.
The Coffee County Young Farmers would like to express a sincere thanks to Ricky Dorsey for helping assist our Young Farmer Chapter, prepare, smoke and teach the fundamentals of competition cooking so this recognition could be earned. We would like to thank our Young Farmer Members Michael and Kassidy Carter for allowing us to utilize your Hays Smoker as part of the Que Fest.
The Georgia Young Farmer Que Fest and the opportunity to feed the swine exhibitors and their families would not have been possible without the numerous sponsors which include: Sunbelt Agricultural Exposition, Swisher, GA Pork Producers Association, GA Farm Bureau, Striplings, Ga National Agricenter, J and J Heating and Air, Country Oaks Farm and Home Supply and the Georgia Young Farmers Association.
If you are interested in joining the Coffee County Young Farmer Association please contact Spencer Highsmith at troy.highsmith@coffee.k12.ga.us.