Roll Call. Inside 30 days. Canadian National BBQ Championship, Whistler BC 7/30/10-8/1/10

We are in. I am flying in to BC this Saturday morning. Judging a BBQ contest on Sunday. Teaching a couple of classes at a great store in Langley BC, Well Seasoned, Vlad (husband) is flying in next Thursday and we are all heading up to Whistler on the Friday. Looking forward to it!

Yeah Baby

Raven's Fyre will be there!! Looking forward to it!

Well Seasoned is a great place, I wish it were near me! That said, Angie and Dennis put on a great event in Langley, BC - BBQ on the Bypass in September, one of the most fun cooks I've ever attended, you should have a great time there!
See ya at Whistler, Danielle!

Are there any issues bringing equipment, meat, garnish, etc across the border?

I've never had problems bringing meat and equipment either way (can't bring lamb into the states though), I believe garnish is an issue however......

RobKC said:

Are there any issues bringing equipment, meat, garnish, etc across the border?

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You can't bring goat or mutton right now (not really a concern unless you are planning on doing it for an open category). You should always check the travel advisories the day before to make sure nothing you are bringing across is not allowed. Also don't bring wood across unless its a boxed or bagged wood chips or chunks (no bark)products or pellets.

As for Garnish and meat- on both sides on our travels we have been advised only to have garnish (parsley) from the Country we are going to. For meat it has never been an issue although we always have documentation or receipts where it has been purchased from. We usually do not trim ahead of time either.

Equipment is never an issue either as long as it is declared. They will more often than not open up the trailer smell the BBQ and ask more questions related to BBQ than anything else. Charcoal is also never an issue.

We don't ever vend at any events we attend. That is just a headache of paperwork that we are not willing to get into.

Always make sure they have easy access to your coolers. This is something we learned pretty fast. The easier you make it for them to inspect you the faster you get through. As long as you are polite and respectful and expecting them to question you its not an issue.

We make a lot of border crossings each year and on the odd occasion we are fully inspected it has never taken more that a few minutes.

In fact on two occasions we have had the border crossing officer come to the comp site (Oinktoberfest - 2 years in a row) not to inspect us but to eat with us chat and generally because they love BBQ.

The only advise is, if you are crossing at Vancouver, use the truck crossing. Less headache and less tourist. If it's backedup you can always swing over to Abbotsford.

Have never had an issue dragging food or equipment either way with the exception of the crossing in Idaho North of Sandpoint.

Don't forget rocks are needed due to the black bears that come down when they smell the food there at Dusty's. Gotta throw something at them to save the meat.

You will need a Passport.

No problem there. We just spent a week houseboating at Shuswap Lake in BC around the first of June. We crossed at Abbotsford with a bunch of food, but no produce.

Leaving in the morning for Whistler, BC!! At last count there are 43 teams registered. Looking forward to this one-and possibly the trip to Jamaica, mon!!