Blues music and the smell of barbecue filled Heritage Park on night one of Jammin in JC.

The two day Blues and Barbecue festival kicked off Friday evening in Heritage Park with the Back Porch Blues Band out of Topeka taking to the stage at 5:00 p.m..

Coordinator Bob Cevera estimated that between 1,000 and 1,500 people turned out for night one. “It’s definitely the largest opening crowd we’ve ever had,” says Cevera.

The Terry Quiett Band out of Wichita, and Levee Town out of Kansas City also to took to the stage.

This was the first year for the Terry Quiett Band to perform at Jammin in JC and lead singer Terry Quiet said he loved it. “I thought it was fantastic, the crowd was awesome, the night was beautiful, the weather was perfect. We had a great time, I loved it, loved it. We want to come back again.”

Day two of the festival kicks off at noon Saturday with the Steve Fansler Band out of Chapman, followed by SouthSide Soul at 1:30 p.m., Little G Weevil at 3:30 p.m., Mr. Sipp (The Mississippi Blues Child) at 5:30 p.m., followed by The Slide Brothers at 8:00 p.m..

Also kicking off was the Barbecue Contest put on by the Geary County Convention and Visitors Bureau. This year six contestants will be competing in four categories ribs, pork, brisket, and chicken.

Derrick Melton of Junction City is back for a second year to compete and commented that there is a lot of competition out there this year.

“These guys are all really good, I’ve competed with them before and all of their barbecue is really good, it’s going to be tough,” says Melton.

Judging for the competition starts at 11 a.m. Saturday and the winners will be announced on the stage at 3:00 p.m..