They’ve been at it for 10 years, but this year The Pink Ladies have given up ribs and gone exotic. Here’s their story.

Does anyone remember ANY Memphis in May BBQ or Music Festival that didn’t get soaked? I’m talking any year. Tell me when it was, because I’ve forgotten. This was what it looked like after we got hit with a front that brought so much rain we couldn’t see the bridge from the tent. And did I take a picture of that to show you? Uh–NO WAY! I’m looking pretty rough already, just from being caught in the sprinkle and I was not getting out in the downpour.

But here’s the aftermath. I’m glad to report that the skies are clear(ish), and that I’m off to a tent that’s serving up seafood at 6. After that, catch me on the wine blog at 7.

Our cooking team reconvened back in January to gird ourselves for the 2008 Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest. Some readers might remember the story I wrote last year about putting together a pit crew from scratch.

A quick recap: we were a swarm of barflies who drunkenly thought it’d be a great idea if we convinced 30 friends or so to pitch in $200 and try to beat some of the best pork smokers in the country. Scroll down or click here to read last year’s posts.

In spite of a huge case of overconfidence, our team, The Ques Brothers, placed 12th in the country in the pork shoulder category. For first timers, that is what anyone would call outstanding. It made a great story, at least. We were all happy: the team, the sponsor, the readers.

And then came The Ques Brothers’ sophomore slump. This year we’re cooking by the hem of our aprons.

I was talking to Diane Hampton, executive vice president of Memphis in May, and she laughed when I told her some of our financial problems. “You’re finally realizing how good you had it the first year,” she said. “Nobody, comes out of chute like you guys did.”

With a price tag of around $15,000, a good-looking barbecue team is not for those with light wallets. Not unless you manage to land a corporate sponsor. Businesses sponsor BBQ cooking teams for different reasons. Last year our sponsor gave us a huge chunka change to make the front of our booth a billboard for the company. We also had to feed employees on “sponsor night.”

Some big companies like Valero Refined (who came in 11th place) hire contractors to build party pavilions for employees and investors. It’s a prestige thing.

We found no corporate sponsors this year. The past week, we’ve gone through an agonizing reexamination of the budget. We are now hacking away amenities in terms of kegs of beer (1 keg=$40). As in, “Can we do without these $90 team buttons?” “Hell yeah, that’s two kegs right there.”

Everyone on the team, however, refused to buy the idea that we could do the fest with just a tent, a bar and a smoker. We are luxury hogs, all of us.

“We have to have a second level!” was the unanimous declaration at a planning meeting last week. Barbecue Fest is not your domain if you don’t have an upper deck upon which to stand and look over it.

Fortunately, one of our team members had a giant steel structure sitting in a field down in Mississippi. We just had to go pick it up — all 800 pounds of it. And put it together. And weld handrails onto it. And make it structurally sound. And paint it. And lay a plywood deck.

I feel most sorry for Danny, a general contractor and millwright, who joined our team for some much needed relaxation and vacation and ended up spending the last four days constructing our booth with a handful of others. Last night, at 9:30 p.m., I was popping his back atop the unfinished deck. “Usually I leave this to my chiropractor,” he groaned.

We’re all hoping to have most of it finished by tonight (Wednesday) — for friends and family night — when, to get things started, we’re smoking a half-dozen turkeys just for fun. For everyone else, the contest kicks off on Thursday.

Meanwhile, here are some links to whet your appetite as all the teams get their smokers in gear for the Super Bowl of Swine.

General overview of Barbecue Fest Events.

Jon W. Sparks writes about a cooking team from Belgium.

Food critic Jennifer Biggs blogs from Barbecue Fest.

Fellow Ques Brother and Downtown blogger Paul Ryburn’s drunk posts from the Fest.

Artists on team Sow Luau create crazy pig heads.

Story about company that rents monster tents to barbecue teams.

List of 2008 BBQ teams and where from.