Holy Smokers win fifth-straight at Chillin & Grillin, Harper's Hut gives away 400+ snow cones

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By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The Sand Springs Chamber of Commerce put on their annual Chillin' and Grillin' Festival this past weekend, and if you didn't make it then you sure missed out!

Harper's Hut Shaved Ice & Java gave out more than 400 free snow cones throughout the event, including signature favorites such as Harry Potter Butterbeer and Volcano. 

Jambo Pits was named Grand Champion of the event by the Kansas City Barbecue Society with Okie Q BBQ coming in as Reserve Champion.

Jambo Pits took first place in brisket, Moving the Chains BBQ took first in pork, Buffalo's BBQ took first in pork ribs, and Fatt Mikes took first place in chicken.

Church That Matters' Holy Smokers won their fifth consecutive People's Choice Award. Light My Fire BBQ won the "Anything But" competition.

This year included a baking competition with two categories and two division. Katie Gonzales won the Student division in Cookies. Jacie Taber and Cameron Clemons won the Student Pies category. Andrea Brice won Adult Cookies and Debra Bunch won Adult Pies. 

Charles Page High School graduate and blues musician Dylan Whitney was the entertainment for the evening, along with the Charles Sisters.

Senator Dan Newberry was on the scene to present awards and publicize his upcoming re-election campaign. Sand Springs's own Josh Turley was also campaigning at the event. Turley is running for the position of County Commissioner. 

The full Sandite Pride gallery from the event is now available at https://sanditepride.smugmug.com/Community-Events/2016-Chillin-and-Grillin/

Local churches put on back-to-school-bashes for area youth

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By: Scott Emigh, Sandite Pride Editor

Church That Matters

                The Movement is the name of the youth ministry at Church That Matters on 41st street in Prattville, and they were sure moving fast last Wednesday at “The Meltdown.” The Meltdown is a back-to-school snowball fight put on at Church That Matters in conjunction with two local shaved ice stands. The Meltdown is a Harper’s Hut event that they offer to any organization, but this marks the second year that they’ve donated their service to CTM for no charge. CEO William Nozak and the owner of the Pink Shack both attend CTM so Nozak invites his business competition to join in the fun each year.

                The Movement had nearly a hundred students in attendance for an epic snowball fight that went through 780 pounds of shaved ice. It took over two hours to shave the ice that the students went through in only fifteen minutes, and they had a blast. There was free food, free drinks, a live band, and the church gave away five “Slide The City” tickets that had a $40 face value. Slide The City was an event this past weekend in Tulsa that turned three blocks of downtown street into a giant slip’n’slide. Ten students committed their lives to following Christ at The Movement that night.

                The Movement meets each Wednesday at 7PM at 3 West 41st Street under youth pastor Scott Bryan.

Word of Life

                Forward Youth is the youth ministry of Word of Life church at 1402 North 81st West Avenue. The youth, however, have their own location at 10th and Adams in an old QuikTrip building less than a block from Charles Page High School. Forward’s back-to-school bash was also a battle royale, but it was a lot less wet and a lot messier.

                Nearly a hundred students showed up to the third annual Whiteout event, which featured 200 pounds of different colored powdered paints. The students are advised ahead of time to wear all white clothing. Many students make their own t-shirts specifically for the event. The church has a professional photographer on staff who came out and set up a photo booth for before and after photos.

                When it came time for the event, the students were herded across the street to the Sandite practice field where they were divided into two groups and given their initial bags of powdered paint. Buckets of extra paint littered the grounds for those who ran out of their own supply. When the church leaders gave the signal the two lines ran at each other launching paint into each other’s faces and the whole group disappeared into a cloud of mixed colors. The battle doesn’t last long, only about fifteen or twenty minutes, but the students always have a blast. One student committed to following Christ.