Photos by Jake Przytarski A young Box Car Days attendee enjoys the giant swing ride on Saturday in Tracy. The fun at Tracy’s annual event concludes today with such events at the grand parade, pigeon races and a craft/vendor sale.

TRACY — The annual Tracy Box Car Days BBQ contest returned for its eighth year of competition on Saturday with six teams of barbecue enthusiasts putting their skills to the test in hopes of being crowned the grand champions by day’s end.

The cook-off opened at 1 p.m. as teams loaded their smokers and applied just the right amount of dry-rub to the baby back ribs provided by the contest organizers. The competition also included a dessert category, with the grand prize winner of the entire contest judged on both their ribs and dessert presentations.

Teams traveled from all over to compete in the event, including one out of state team from Iowa. The city of Marshall was represented at the event by the Mad Scientist BBQ team comprised of Ben Alcorn and Eric and Mary Squires. The three joined forces 10 years ago and have competed in similar events like the SMSU Smokefest in year’s past.

Alcorn, who’s originally from Walnut Grove, has been coming to the Box Car Days BBQ contest since its inception and said he especially enjoys the camaraderie of these types of events.

“It’s a great reason to get together,” said Alcorn. “I’m originally from Walnut Grove and (it’s fun) visiting back home and I get to work with Eric and Mary.”

The Mad Scientist BBQ team would end up taking third place in the rib portion of the contest, with Smoking Hams taking second and Endless Smoke placing first. The grand champion of the entire event went to Worthington-based Sue and the Slackers, whose caramel apple cheesecake dessert placed first in the dessert portion as well. The group took home over $1,000 in prizes along with a special Boxcar trophy.

Sue Belz of Sue and the Slackers was excited to see her hard work pay off with the grand prize.

“It’s amazing. All of the hard work that you put into it, you know it’s days of preparation,” said Belz. “Then coming (here with) all of the camaraderie and everything here is just, I just love this contest.”

With goals of a repeat championship next year, Belz said the work to develop a new dessert has already begun.

“I’ll go home now and start researching and start doing it now until next year, and try different things (to) decide which one I want to do from there,” said Belz.”