Hartville’s GrillFest ‘25

This was my fourth year representing Weber Grills at Hartville Hardware’s GrillFest, and I dare say, it was my favorite yet.

Hartville Hardware, located in northeast Ohio just minutes from Akron, is one of, if not the, largest hardware store in the US. To prove my point, they built an entire home INSIDE the hardware store. It’s that big.

This was the twelve year of their Grillfest, a day-long celebration of live fire cooking and demonstrations supported by a massive sale of grills and accessories. While I took the demo state for Weber, where I cranked out grilled pork tenderloin sliders with a vinegar slaw, the award-winning Diva-Q, Danielle Bennet, talked all things Traeger, and the always fun Captain Ron fired up the Big Green Egg.

Filling the role of emcee was my good friend and host of the BBQ Central Radio Show, Greg Rempe. If you think Greg does a great job on his show, you should see him working in person.

I felt good about my demo. I had a good crowd and even some familiar faces from years past. Most importantly, I had some great questions and laughter in places where laughter was expected and not because I screwed something up!

For my demo, I grilled pork tenderloin sliders with a tangy coleslaw. One, this is straightforward to make for a demo with plenty of teachable points, and second, it’s a recipe from NASCAR: Race Day Eats. Gotta plug the book! Tenderloin sliders are fantastic for a crowd, as they cook quickly for a crowd, are relatively inexpensive, and can pack a lot of flavor, especially with the slaw.

After the demo time, the judges scored the competitors' mystery black box and the competition BBQ. As an aside, the three of us also individually grilled the black box contents. I literally grilled just what was in the black box without any pantry items or additions. Considering the contents consisted of Old Bay gold fish crackers, pineapple, spam, chipotles, and ginger root, I was happy with my tasty yet uninspired skewers. Only later did I find we could have used pantry items, which explains why Diva’s team-led results were so good!

On the competition side, we tasted 21 entries for both the black box and competition, and wow, there were so many good turn-ins. We had everything from sushi rolls to tacos, as well as some amazing BBQ and steak. For the first year ever, the grand champion won on a Weber Genesis. It was Tall Tales BBQ first competition and he nailed it!

After the show wrapped, I was lucky again to have a cigar and bourbon wrap-up with Greg and Matt Kusek from Weber. Matt held an impromptu bourbon tasting while Greg dropped a boatload of cigar knowledge. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times: surround yourself with friends smarter than you. Before I knew it, hours had passed before the guys had to head home. Our time together already had me thinking about next year and doing it all over again.

A huge thanks to Hartville for having me back. GrillFest is an amazing event, and I’ve been proud to be a part of it.