I got a PM from somebody new to bashes and I figured what I replied back might be worth sharing publicly.
What to Expect at a Texas BBQ Brethren Bash
If you've never been to a bash before, don't be scared to come out! The short short version of what we do is sit around and cook, talk, have a few beers, and eat. The longer version goes something like get there, unpack, fire up a smoker, put meat on, eat, talk some, eat, decide it's time for a beer, eat, talk some more, eat, talk while eating, eat, check what you're cooking, eat, finish what you're cooking, eat, relax, eat some more, pack up, eat, go home.
If you didn't get it, it's all about the eating. :-D
If you want to bring a cooker, great! If you want to cook but can't bring a cooker, just post up in the thread and see who's bringing a cooker and has room for whatever you want to cook. If you don't want to cook, that's fine too just bring yourself. There's also always demand for sides and desserts if you don't want to cook meat.
It's a good idea to bring your own drinks, i.e. water, sodas, beer, whatever. If you don't want to sit on a picnic table bench, bring a folding chair, but we've never run out of seating at a park before. Sunscreen and bug spray aren't bad ideas either.
I was a little nervous the first time I went to a bash, but I absolutely loved it. It's just a bunch of people getting together to practice and talk about our shared hobby. And you get to eat some of the best food around--everybody brings their A game at bashes.
You can stay as long as you like--generally we've got people setting up as soon as the park opens, and we're generally wrapping things up after dinner time when the sun starts going down. If you just want to drop in for food, you should aim for either lunch or dinner time. Stuff doesn't all come off the cookers at once (BBQ is done when it's done) but generally folks have things done either around lunch time or around dinner time.
Come on out and have fun!
