By Peter Covino
Entertainment Editor

Don't be chicken. Saturday is the time to head on over to Osceola County's newest barbecue event – the Kiss My Ribs barbecue competition at the Pioneer Village.

"This is a brand new event,” Philip Jackson, spokesman for the Osceola County Historical Society, said.

"Barbecue has always been a big part of the history of the county,” Jackson said, given its ranching history.

The Kiss My Ribs event will celebrate that heritage, Jackson said.

The free event (there is a charge to sample the various food offerings) features a barbecue competition with the help of the Mosquito County Barbecue Society, which includes some of Osceola County's premier barbecue chefs.

The Mosquito County Barbecue Society participates in several events in the county each year, including the Smokin Blues Bikes and BBQ event held in St. Cloud each spring and the Historical Society's Pioneer Days, which is held at the Pioneer Village in November.

But the Pioneer Village first-time event features more than just finger-licking barbecue,  Jackson said.

The historical society will honor the late Eugene “Mr. Gene” Daniel, known for being one of the finest pit barbecuers in this region, and the most revered and respected barbecuer of Kissimmee’s barbecue culture.

Mr. Gene had a colorful history, Jackson said.

He was born in Blakely, Ga., in 1905, Jackson said. He settled in Osceola County in 1925, and worked for a local fruit company for 30 years. It was during this time he honed his barbecue skills on Friday and Saturday nights providing take-out barbecue from his simple wooden building situated under a huge mulberry tree with an old brick pit out back, Jackson said. Because of Mr. Gene’s personal character – coupled with his master pit skills, people – both black and white – came from all over to enjoy his incredible barbecue and homemade sweet potato pie.

The barbecue event will feature an exhibit on Daniel and members of his family are also expected to attend.

Teams competing in the barbecue competition include: Balfour Beatty, Big Boys Bang’n Barbeque, Dante’s Inferno, Eventual Porkcrastinators, Fat Daddy’s, High on the Hog BBQ, Hog Jim’s BBQ, Kiss-Me-Butts, Low Down BBQ, Pond Water Boys and Smitty’s Barbeque.

The judged competition includes monetary prizes and awards.

In addition to all that barbecue, the day-long event also includes an exhibit at the Historical Society museum, original paintings by Florida’s African-American landscape artists known as The Highwaymen.

During the 1950s through the 1960s, a group of African American artists painted and sold landscape paintings out of the trunks of their cars at nominal cost to tourists and other interested people along Florida’s well-traveled roads. They bucked a system that, at the time, provided no outlets for African-American artists in the galleries and other venues of exposure.

Over the years, these artists produced more than 200,000 paintings, all having a distinctly recognizable style. Now highly valued and respected, it wasn’t until 1995, however, that this group and style of painting came to be called the “Highwaymen,” by Florida art collector and museum curator Jim Fitch in an article he wrote (“Painting Florida”) for Antiques and Art Around Florida.

Also at the museum at 2 p.m., guest speaker, Ben Brotemarkle, of the Florida Historical Society, will talk about “The African American Experience in Florida.”

Music is another event highlight with entertainment throughout the day. The lineup includes: gospel soloist Tamara McDuffie; The Front Porch Pickers, a bluegrass group; and Harvestime Ministries; and the New Hope Adult Choir.

Admission to Kiss My Ribs is free and is being sponsored in part by United Arts of Central Florida as a program of ArtsFest 2011. The event is from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Food and beverage is a separate charge and will be posted by the various barbecue vendors on site.

The Pioneer Village is at 750 N. Bass Road. (just off U.S. Highway 192) in Kissimmee. For more information, call 407-397-8644, or visit the OCHS website at www.osceolahistory.com.