The weather is cooling down, and the smokers are heating up this week as competitive barbecue cookers prepare for the Canadian River Beach Club’s 14th Annual Calf Fry and Cook-Off, which will be held once again at Jones Pavilion on Saturday, Sept. 24.

Clear your calendars and cleanse your palates for some of the finest calf fries, stuff jalapeños, chicken, ribs, beef brisket, and bloody marys you ever tasted. Ten IBCA-sanction teams have already signed on to compete Saturday for top chef honors, and to get a piece of the $7,500 guaranteed payout that will be divvied up between the cook teams.

The action starts with a Friday night cook-off, open to all competitors and anyone with VIP access. Gates open to the public at 9 am on Saturday for a full day of feeding and fun, with food samples aplenty, a craft show with several vendors, bouncy houses for the kids, the ever-popular dunk tank, and “the best dang ring-toss Canadian has ever seen,” according to Canadian Community Center Director Ike Julian.

Taste-testing is not only allowed with your admission, but required. General admission wristbands are available at the door for $25/adults and $15/6- to 17-year-olds. VIP wristbands are $100 each and qualify the wearer for entry to the Friday night cook-off and to special access, free finger foods, and alcohol at the Saturday night concert and dance.

During the morning, each cook-off team will prepare their specialties according to the judging schedule. At 9 am, teams will turn in their bloody marys (a non-IBCA category), followed by stuffed jalapeños at 10 am, calf fries at 11 am, chicken at 12 noon, ribs at 1:30 pm, and beef brisket at 3 pm. From 9 am-4:30 pm, a craft and trade show will be held inside Jones Pavilion.

From noon to 4 pm, there will be games and bouncy toys for the kids set up outside the Pavilion. At 4 pm on Saturday, the Team Calcutta Auction begins, and at 6 pm, the cook-off awards will be presented.

Save a little time for an afternoon siesta, because at 8 pm that evening, Donnie Brewer and Jerry Diaz will take the stage at Jones Pavilion to entertain the crowd with some Buffet-style music. That’s Jimmy Buffet, for all you non-parrot heads.

At 1 am, the 12th Annual Calf Fry and BBQ Cook-Off concludes, or as the schedule of events says, “You ain’t gotta go home, but ya can’t stay here!!!”

The CRBC is always hoping to recruit more volunteers to help work the doors for the event and to judge some of the competition categories. If interested in volunteering or judging, call Ben Riverman at 970.372.7870 or contact the Beach Club at 806.680.6758.

Sponsors are also welcome. They have helped make it possible for the CRBC to return over $70,000 in donations to community nonprofits.

Have a little fun on Saturday, eat a lot of great food, and do a little good while you’re at it.

This Rockin’ Wood Motorcycle will be raffled off to some lucky winner Saturday evening. Raffle tickets will be for sale at the door, and some little kid is going to be just as excited as young Henry Patrick Crouch, who was kind enough to show off his ride.