After 11 years, the creator of BBQ Off the Bypass, is taking a time-out.
Angie Quaale, the owner of Well Seasoned Gourmet Food Store, announced she will not be producing the popular barbecue competition held in Langley every September.
Now, expressing gratitude for the experience and all the “amazing support” she’s received as host of the event, Quaale gave thanks to the community, competitors, judges, spectators, and sponsors and revealed her plans to “invest her energy and talents” further into her own business.
“The community surrounding BBQ Off the Bypass can never be replicated, and I thank everybody who has taken part from the beginning, for their trust in me to create a successful competition and festival celebrating barbecue,” said Quaale.
Quaale, who is also a councillor with the Township of Langley, said her Langley event – which was organized by herself and her staff at Well Seasoned – attracted thousands of fans from throughout the Lower Mainland through the years, and given many people a true appreciation for low and slow southern-style barbecue.
But, she’s not stepping away from barbecue arena.
“I am very proud [to] continue to produce the Barn Burner BBQ [held earlier this month], which takes place each spring in Chilliwack; and for those who need their barbeque fix, it’s a great way to start off the season,” she added. That event, she explained, is a free family-friendly “BBQ extravaganza” officially sanctioned by the Kansas City BBQ Society.
Quaale was originally introduced to competitive barbecuing in 2004, and figured the best way to join the quest for the ultimate BBQ was to host a competition of her own. So, the next year, she invited teams to travel to Langley, and that’s when BBQ On the Bypass (its original name because that’s where her store was located at the time) was born.
Through the years that followed, she noted that her Langley competition also managed to raise more than $75,000 for Fraser Valley charities.
