Community Corner

Oyster Fest BBQ Pit Canceled: The Ground's Too Wet

The Norwalk Seaport Association has canceled the "BBQ Pit," which was to feature a barbecue competition.

The Norwalk Oyster Festival's barbecue contest has been canceled because the gounds where the "barbecue pit" would be located is just too wet from all the recent rain, festival organizers say.

Carolyn Ripp, a spokeswoman for the event, said the contest, which was planned for Friday through Sunday, needed ground firm enough for barbecue contestants to get in their grills and even vehicles to deliver grills.

"That area of the field is particularly wet," she said. That doesn't mean there won't be any barbecue offered at the festival, she said: "There will be barbecue vendors."

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The planned barbecue competition had been endorsed by the New England Barbeque Society and the Kansas City Barbeque Society, festival organizers said. The competitive event, which has taken place in 2009 and 2010, even has its own website.

No other parts of the festival are expected to be canceled because of wet grounds, Ripp said, at least for Saturday and Sunday.

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The Norwalk Seaport Association, which runs the annual event, announced earlier on Thursday that it was possible the Friday night activities would be canceled because of the wet grounds. Ripp said a decision on that is expected very soon on Thursday afternoon.


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