Video: Tupelo Preps for BBQ Duel

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TUPELO, Miss. (WCBI) – The smokers are rolling into Tupelo.  Competition cooking doesn’t begin until Friday, but the Tupelo BBQ Duel fun started Thursday night with food and live entertainment.

Allie Martin was live in the middle of the action with a couple of special guests.

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TUPELO, Miss. (WCBI) – That is the young guitarist known as “Kingfish”  He was part of a free St. Patrick’s Day concert at Fairpark in downtown Tupelo.

The concert also kicked off the sixth annual “Tupelo Barbecue Duel.”  One hundred teams are taking part in the competition, and planning has been going on for months. However, the concert was put together this week after a member of the Mayor’s Quality of Life Committee suggested an event for St Patrick’s Day.

“So, Tupelo doesn’t have a celebration for a lot of things, St. Patrick’s Day is one of them, a lot of cities do different things to celebrate, the weekend before or after, but I figured, we’re having the barbecue duel, why not set up a day early and celebrate the holiday.”

The Barbecue Duel starts Friday.  The event is free, and there are food vendors.  The competition takes place Saturday and Sunday.