Hot Ribs, Cool Jazz

Jazz.  Ribs.  Festival.  What more could you ask for?!

People watching?  Check.

Crazy big birds...that you could hold.  Check.

Walking on walls?  Check!  Check!  Check!

The Jazz & Rib Festival did not disappoint!  My brother, Travis, flew into town to meet up with my Dad who is also in town, but before my Dad arrived, the four of us headed downtown to the Jazz & Rib Festival. We had no expectations here but as we walked around and got our bearings we stumbled upon the best seating spot and the best jazz musicians at North Bank Park!  We made sure that we planted ourselves in said seats for both once we decided on just the right rib station, which was a task in and of itself...

Every rib joint boasted awards.  "Best in 2014!"  "Award-winning BBQ!"  "#1 Ribs!"  We thought the best way to tell a good one was to see how long the line was, but ALL of the lines were long, so out went that logic.  We ended up picking randomly and landed on Smokin' Joe's Hog Wild Barbeque out of Kentucky. In the end we decided that we couldn't go wrong with any of these BBQ places.  They all looked and smelled delicious!

And we didn't go wrong with Smokin' Joe's either!  We all shared a few items from the menu, sat at North Bank Park, and enjoyed the fabulous live jazz musicians playing with the Columbus, OH skyline in the background.

Oh yeah, and we stumbled upon this crazy bird set up where we got to hold some really exotic birds.  (I'm not entirely sure how the birds go with the jazz and/or ribs, but they were there, so we got in on the bird action too!)

Travis and Bri at the festival!

First stop, beverage tokens.

Uncle T and Kate!

Smokin' Joe's!

Walking on the wall ledge!

I cannot believe Daddy allowed this!

Uncle T with a big blue bird!

Kate and I opt for the green one!

But we had to X her trying to pet him...
I could see that going terribly wrong.

We had a great time enjoying the downtown scene together for a bit.  The weather was slightly cloudy but still unseasonably cool, and the company, jazz, ribs, people watching, bird holding and wall walking was all top notch!