Walking along the chain-link fence that outlined the perimeter of this year’s Safeway BBQ Battle, it seemed that the cagey border was as much a barrier for keeping unticketed tourists out as it was a measure to keep the boisterous affair in.
Beneath downtown D.C.’s polished white buildings scrambled ruddy-faced children, hands and noses covered in powdered sugar from hastily eaten funnel cakes. 
An inflatable pig in toque — it would have been perfectly comfortable floating in the Macy’s Day Parade — towered over the four block event. swaying gently in an intoxicating porky haze that issued from 40 odd competitors’ tents.
What struck me the most was Safeway’s success in morphing its fluorescently lit aisles into an event with the magic of a country fair. Its usual products transformed from boxes and bottles into pretty stands and vendors with flashy smiles.
And supplementing this theme was the event’s hosting of an annual BBQ competition. Ribs and pulled pork, to me, seemed out-of-place in the land of suits, but a quick trip through was enough to see that the District has taken well to brisket. Plenty of competitors hailed from the area including teams with punny names like Washington Symphony Porkestra and Pork Barrel BBQ.
Pork Barrel BBQ actually came in second place at the competition last year. The idea for the team surfaced in 2006 when Brett Thompson and Heath Hall, then staffers for Missouri Senator Jim Talent, pined for the barbecue of their native land whilst slaving over that year’s state budget. And from that craving burst forth a successful line of sauces and rubs and a restaurant opening soon in the Del Ray Neighborhood of Alexandria.
And though the Pork Barrel crew have traded in their bills for grills, they haven’t gotten any less serious about their craft. I got to sample a rib, and it was buttery and sweet, tender and smoky. I could have eaten twenty of them in spite of the sweltering afternoon. 
Now, I’m not usually big on barbecue, but getting to hang out in Pork Barrel’s tent in the sticky summer with so many attendees milling around us like ants on a picnic table, I felt like I was part of it all, like I should have been there. And I felt like eating barbecue was not a preference, it was an obligation.
What the BBQ battle did for me is what good politicians do for their constituency: make them feel included in their affairs and make them proud of those affairs.
And by extension, this is what the Safeway event also did for its consumers. By transforming their goods from products into a fun summer afternoon, Safeway was able to help people identify the store, not with buzzing muzak and fluorescent lighting, but with charity and fun. And further, by associating the nationwide chain with the imagery of a state fair, its able to sell itself as something wholesome and local. 
Foodies cry out for food raised and prepared locally. And though it would be impossible for Safeway to really give into these demands, they can at least, if only for a weekend, appear to.
- Angela Tchou, WTD Enthusiast
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