Editor, Ceres Courier,
On behalf of the Ceres Chamber of Commerce and the Tuolumne River Lodge, we would like to thank all of those that came out to make the 2015 Ceres Smoke on the River Bands, Brews & BBQ Cook-off such a huge success. We hope that everyone had a great time and we are already looking to host a bigger and better event next year.

We want to thank all of our sponsors including Flooring Liquidators, Cost Less Foods, Embroidery Plus, Denis RV, Bronco Wine Co., DBI Beverage, Delta Sierra Beverage, Blaker Brewing Company, Sandude Brewing Company, Dustbowl Brewing Company, Tioga-Sequoia Brewing Company, Ciganos Cigar Lounge, Cold Stone Creamery, Cuppy's Shaved Ice, Bouncin' Bin of Ceres, A&A Portables, the City of Ceres, Cumulus Media (KAT Country and KHOP), Crossroads Feed & Ranch, MaMa Weber's BBQ, Ceres High School and Central Valley High School Band Boosters, Pot-o-Gold Kettle Korn and the California BBQ Association.

We want to thank all of our BBQ Pitmasters for making the competition quite tasty Off the Hook BBQ of Clovis, Smokin' Ts BBQ of Waterford, Smokin' Guns BBQ of Turlock, Beer Belly BBQ of Modesto, Meat Liquidators of Modesto, Rob's Smokin' Rub BBQ Crew of Manteca, Smokin' the Bandit BBQ of Plumas Lake, 5W BBQ of Clovis, Smokey Boys BBQ of Madera, Hero BBQ of Modesto, Copper Kitchen BBQ of Ceres, Holy Smoke BBQ of Escalon, Hello BBQ of San Jose, Biggety O's BBQ of Ceres, Q's Brothers BBQ, Howlin' BBQ of Los Angeles, Full Barrel BBQ of Turlock, JnJ's Smokin' BBQ of Ceres and Smokey River Boys of Ceres.

Again we want to congratulate our winning Pitmasters: Grand Champion. Beer Belly BBQ; Reserve Grand Champion. Smokin' the Bandit BBQ; First Place Tri-tip, Beer Belly BBQ; Second Place Tri-tip, Meat Liquidators; Third Place Tri-tip, Off the Hook BBQ; First Place Ribs, Smokin' the Bandit BBQ; Second Place Ribs, Rob's Smokin' Rub; Third Place Ribs, Full Barrel BBQ; and People's Choice, Hero BBQ.

Thanks to our emcee Patty Castillo-Davis and her band and to Greg Scudder and the Beer 30, the Black Rose Band and the Highway 99 Band for the great music throughout the day.

Thanks to all of our arts and craft vendors for rounding out this second annual event.

Thank you to all of our volunteers for a hard day's work. A lot goes into the planning and even more goes into pulling off a successful event. All of your help is greatly appreciated.

Thank you to Becki and Bryan Nicholes and Don Cool for providing photography services for the event. We appreciate all you do.

Mark your calendars for next year, Saturday, August 27, 2016 is already in the books for us.

Lenora Caulton,
Fran Webster,
Loren Jameson,
Brenda Herbert,
Charlie Fernandes,
Dovie Wilson,
Beth Hunt,
Lea Ann Hoogestraat,
Renee Ledbetter,
2015 Smoke on the River Steering Committee