The Alabama Tourism Department has celebrated the state's musical heritage, its great restaurants and chefs, and its charming small towns.
Now, it's time to salute the 'cue.
The tourism folks will launch the Year of Alabama Barbecue on Saturday during the Southern Foodways Alliance's Food Media South conference in Birmingham.
The year-long campaign will include a Year of Alabama Barbecue website and smart-phone app, a traveling photo exhibit featuring legendary Alabama pitmasters, a documentary film that chronicles the history of Alabama barbecue, and the announcement of the first inductees into the Alabama Barbecue Hall of Fame.
"What we are doing with the Year of Alabama Barbecue is celebrating our barbecue heritage and making our state a destination for barbecue lovers across the country," Alabama Tourism Director Lee Sentell said today.
Previous state tourism campaigns have included the Year of Alabama Music, the Year of Alabama Small Towns and Downtowns and two Year of Alabama Food promotions.
"After we did food twice, it became obvious to us that the overriding favorite type of food in the state for an evening out is barbecue," Sentell told AL.com. "There are other dishes that are indigenous to the South -- namely, fried chicken and catfish and seafood -- but there is a mystique about the different ways that barbecue can be prepared and seasoned and served."
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The Year of Alabama Barbecue website, www.alabamabbq.com, is expected to go live sometime today. It will include links to some of the state's best places for ribs, pulled pork and chicken, as well as a barbecue-themed road trip and a calendar listing of the top barbecue festivals around the state.
The "Alabama BBQ Trail" smart phone app features the history and favorite dishes of more than 75 barbecue restaurants in 52 cities across the state. The app also includes an alert that notifies users when they are within 20 miles of one of their chosen barbecue spots.
The app is based on the book "Alabama Barbecue: Delicious Road Trips," which was released last fall and is available at Books-A-Million stores and online at Amazon.com.
The first inductees of the Alabama Barbecue Hall of Fame will be announced on May 18 in Birmingham.
"The restaurants being inducted into the hall of fame have all been open for at least 50 years and include some of the most recognized names in barbecue," Sentell said.
The Year of Alabama Barbecue campaign will include a website and smart phone app, a traveling photo exhibit, a documentary film and an Alabama Barbecue Hall of Fame. (Photo courtesy of the Alabama Tourism Department)
The "Masters of Alabama BBQ" photo exhibit will focus on 26 popular Alabama barbecue chefs and their favorite dishes. It will tour top barbecue festivals across the nation, beginning with the Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest this spring.
Accompanying the photo exhibit will be a new, 57-minute documentary film titled "Q -- Alabama Barbecue Legends," featuring interviews with barbecue giants like John Bishop, Jr. from Dreamland Bar-B-Que, Don McLemore and Chris Lilly from Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q, Nick Pihakis from Jim 'N Nick's Bar-B-Q, and Van Sykes from Bob Sykes BarB-Q. The film also will likely air on Alabama Public Television sometime later this year.
The tourism department will promote the campaign with the Year of Alabama Barbecue TV spots in about 40 Raycom Media television stations in Alabama and other markets across the U.S., Sentell said.
"We are using a number of different ways to spread the message about barbecue," he said. "The sole purpose is to encourage Alabamians and tourists alike to sample the different types of barbecue throughout the state."
Some of the cities and restaurants that will be featured during the Year of Alabama Barbecue campaign include:
Albertville, Wilsons's; Anniston, Betty's; Argo, Southland; Athens, Lawlers; Auburn, Byron's Smokehouse, Price's Barbecue; Bessemer, Bob Sykes BarB-Q; Billingsley, Jim's Highway 82 BBQ; Birmingham, Full Moon Bar-B-Que, Jim 'N Nick's Bar-B-Q, Rib-It-Up; Blount Springs, Top Hat; Calera, Fred's Small Time, Tin Top; Clay, Barbecue Stop; Cullman, Johnny's; Decatur, Big Bob Gibson, Smokey C's; Dora, Leo & Susie's Famous Green Top; Dothan, Dobb's, Smokey Joe's, The BBQ Shack, Tib A Dor's Station; Elba, Ranch House; Enterprise, Big Daddy's; Eufaula, Phil's; Fayette, Sam's Smokehouse; Florence, Bunyan's, Dick Howell's, Singleton's, Smokin' on the Boulevard; Foley, Down South; Gadsden, Pruett's; Georgiana, Kendall's; Greenville, Real Pit; Gulf Shores, Hog Wild; Hartselle, Pig Stand; Heflin, Marie's; Hollywood, Mud Creek; Homewood, Demetri's BBQ, Saw's BBQ;
Huntsville, Gibson's, Granville's Gourmet, Little Paul's; Irondale, Golden Rule; Leeds, Rusty's BBQ; Leesburg, Tim's Walk Hard; Lincoln, R&B; Madison, Chuck Wagon, The "Old" Greenbrier Restaurant; Midland City, Webb's 231; Mobile, Cotton State, McMillan, Dick Russell's, Saucy Q, The Brick Pit; Montgomery, Brenda's, Sam's; Moody, Bluegrass; Muscle Shoals, Brooks Barbecue; New Market, New Market BBQ; Northport, Archibald's B.B.Q.; Opelika, Chuck's; Owens Cross Roads, Big Cove; Pell City, Butts to Go; Prattville, Fat Boy's Bar-B-Que Ranch; Selma, Hancock's, Lannie's; Summerdale, L.A. Barbecue; Troy, Hook's, Bar-B-Q House; Tuscaloosa, Archibald & Woodrow's BBQ, Moe's Original Bar B Que, Dreamland Bar-B-Que; Vestavia Hills, Miss Myra's Pit Bar-B-Q; Wetumpka, Champs, Smokin's.