Springfield, Missouri was the destination for the2010 Rock n Ribs contest and festival, April 16-17. Once again Bass Pro Shop was home to the event. It's a win-win-win: a KCBS-sanctioned competition with some serious prize money for the barbecue teams; a fun festival for the citizens of Springfield and the surrounding area; but the real winners are the children's charities which benefit from the proceeds. Well over half a million dollars has been raised in the event's 11-year history for Boys and Girls Clubs, Good Samaritan Boys Ranch, scouts and other worthwhile children’s charities.
Smoke Me Tender was on the waiting list to enter this contest for three years. In 2009, an opening finally came up. It was so much fun, team members decided this contest should join 
the American Royal and the Great American Barbecue on the "gotta do" list. This year was even better with much-improved weather and some extra family and friends along to support the "sample stampede" when the public is served.
One of the extra activities that makes this contest so much fun is the Friday night Margaritaville contest. Nun's masterpiece of tequila came in fifth place, a big move up in the ranks from last year. Everyone on the team enjoyed the "prototypes" and the leftovers that the judges didn't take, especially Aaron. Tammye turned in a dessert and appetizer in the "anything but meat" non-sanctioned category and took fourth place.
Saturday went by in a blur between preparing the turn-ins and also samples for the thousands of hungry participants from the public. Nun and Tracy carefully delivered the boxes for judging, keeping a close eye on time as they made their way through the 
crowds. The assembly line in the back was filling the sample cups as fast as possible and trying to keep the meat warm, meanwhile out front the samples were handed out and sauced on request by Aaron, Gary, Andrea and Mindy, all looking groovy in their big gold sunglasses with Elvis sideburns attached. SMT tried hard for the Peoples Choice award but that darn cross-dressing pig in the pink tutu took it home again.
The awards ceremony on Saturday night ended the event. Miss Springfield presented the awards and posed with the winners for the photo's. Special blue plate awards were given to contestants from the 417 area code. DeLong Plumbing team took home a couple of these. You could tell they were real plumbers, 'cuz they were pulling up their pants as they hit the stage. Smoke Me Tender was called to the stage just once, to accept a ninth place trophy for ribs. Aaron, ya done good, kid! Tammye's streak of top ten finishes for chicken was broken with a placing of 27th. Rod's brisket was also in the middle of the pack at 32nd. Gary landed in 22nd with his pork and SMT was 17th overall out of 62 
teams.
Overall: 17th Chicken: 27th
Ribs: 9th
Pork: 22nd
Brisket: 32nd
Margarita: 5th
Dessert: 4th
Anything Butt: 19th