Smokin' BBQ, jazz festival takes to streets

David Price believes the secret to good barbecue is the dry rub as well as the right wood, temperature and time.

The pitmaster and owner of Hog Wild Bar BQ on Michigan Avenue in Howell makes no bones about his secret homemade cherry rub being the best — and naysayers can taste and judge for themselves today and Saturday at the business' booth in the 10th annual Smokin' Jazz & Barbecue Blues Festival in downtown Brighton.

"We'll have good homemade Southern food," Georgia native Price said, adding his menu includes candied hams, coleslaw, peach cobbler and collard greens.

"Everything is made from scratch," said Price, who won the Smokin' Jazz's People's Choice award in 2014.

Price is one of numerous pitmasters who will serve barbecue at the Greater Brighton Area Chamber of Commerce's Smokin' Jazz event which will have barbecue vendors lining Main Street from Grand River Avenue to First Street. The food — including pulled pork, beef brisket, pork tenderloin, sweet treats and more — will be served 5 p.m. to midnight today and noon to midnight Saturday on Main Street.

Jazz and blues will be live at the music stage on Mill Pond Lane, in the municipal parking lot behind Jack's Custard, from 5 p.m. to midnight both today and Saturday. After 9 p.m., it's adults ages 21 and older only.

Live entertainment will pull from the best of the best of both locally and nationally known jazz and blues artists.

"Brighton's Smokin' Jazz & Barbecue Blues Festival is certainly a signature event for Livingston County," chamber President and CEO Pam McConeghy said in a prepared statement. "It has brought a considerable amount of attention to downtown Brighton and has helped to stimulate its vibrant economy.

"The festival brings jazz, blues and barbecue enthusiasts to Brighton from all across the region. We're looking forward to another successful event, and for our downtown to once again be packed to the max," she added.

Other vendors planning to attend include Great Lakes Custom Meats & More, Hickory BBQ & Grill, Randy's BBQ, Smoke Rolls Inn, Heaven on a Roll, Big Moe's BBQ, Donnie's BBQ of This is Fellowship Ministries, D's and C's Barbecue, Burrough's Tavern and Rub BBQ Catering, according to the chamber website.

For more information, visit online at www.brightonsmikinjazz.com.

Contact Livingston Daily justice reporter Lisa Roose-Church at 517-552-2846 or lrchurch@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @LisaRooseChurch.

For more details

See more on the Smokin' Jazz & Barbecue Blues Festival in today's Weekender section on page 1C.