A letter from Bill & Kim wall re: Best of the West Rib Cook-off
SO many of you have asked, called, written, stopped by and written on our Facebook page asking or just plain being upset about us not being invited back to the Best of the West. We wanted to be sure we told you why we weren't attending.
With heavy hearts, we at Bone Daddy’s BBQ will no longer be a part of The Best In The West Rib Cook-off. As most of you know the event is invitational only and after 25 years of service to the show the Nugget has decided to not invite us back this year. Out of these 25 years we had a championship run! This did not come as a huge surprise to us. Prior to the new ownership back in 2015, we had an excellent rapport with the Nugget. That once strong relationship did not continue with the change in ownership and we knew the day was coming that we would be parting ways.
Some of our most treasured memories have come out of that week we spent doing the event each year. Hands down at the top of that list would be my wife Kim and I exchanging our vows — yep, that took place right there at the cook-off! Our BBQ crew, the Bone Daddy’s BBQ team is one of a kind! It all started with a couple of good friends and our daughter. As she grew older her friends started joining one by one, friends we made along the way joined and it just grew from there! An enormous shout-out to the Bone Daddy Team — you did a stellar job, each and every year!! We could have never pulled off so many successful shows if not for our amazing team members, we can’t thank you guys enough for the loyalty, hard work and determination to do their best. We feel so blessed to have had such a great team camaraderie between us, we always managed to have a great time - despite the crazy lines and the incredible amount of sales we pulled off!!
There are so many people we need to give a thank you to, if we miss anyone our sincerest apologies.
First and foremost, THANK YOU to John Ascuaga for creating this successful show and allowing us to be a part of it for so many years. It’s been remarkable to watch it grow over the years into the huge successful event that it is today. We would be remiss if we didn’t sincerely thank the employees of the Nugget - the cocktail waitresses, the dealers, pit bosses, etc. for being so helpful and considerate to us. They provided treats to us all the time; fresh fruit/donuts, homemade goodies, eggrolls in the mornings waiting at our booth for us. We looked so forward to that every year!
Also, thank you to the journalists/newspapers/tv broadcast stations. The Reno-Gazette Journal, Sparks Tribune, KOLO-TV, Sacramento Bee. The coverage that you provided to us at the Rib Cook Off, we are so appreciative.
Last, and most importantly, the people who have passed through our booth. That’s been our biggest reward - it’s not the trophies we’ve won - it’s the remarkable people we’ve met coming through our line. We don’t even know how to thank you guys - just saying thank you doesn’t feel like enough. We are so appreciative of the support and loyalty of our customers that came back to our booth every year. The long lines that we had all day everyday always let us know that we were doing something right!
This is not the end of Bone Daddy’s BBQ, just a sad goodbye to the Best In The West Nugget Rib cook-off. We still have our restaurant in Midland, MI and look forward to new & exciting opportunities moving forward.
~Bill & Kim Wall (and our amazing staff)
P.S. Yes, you CAN still get sauce. We sold PALLETS....by the CASE, by the BOTTLE at the Best of the West.... You can still get them. Our online store opened last year and you can purchase cases and more (we may reintroduce our kits in smaller amounts again) there.
