As I walk up Wyoming Street, the sound of music, laughter, and conversation drifts through the air. The Great Midwest Blizzard of 2011 has left a chill in the air, but the smell of sausage wafting down the street promises warmth. I turn up the driveway to the Knitter residence for Winter SausageFest and can see firelight flickering off parked cars and unfamiliar faces.<\/p>\n
SausageFest is the brainchild of Rudolph Bledsoe<\/a> and Chris Knitter<\/a>. What started out as a simple house party, has turned into a Kansas City phenomenon, as their friends have invited more and more people to come to the event. I can smell wood burning in the fire pits as I step onto the deck. Someone planned ahead to fight back the cold. I can see Rudy next to the grill, working on the sausages. I say my hellos to a handful of old friends as I make my way to the sausage stand. I put two packs of Mendolia’s Sausages<\/a>\u00e2\u20ac\u201cmy tribute to SausageFest for the evening\u00e2\u20ac\u201cdown in front of Rudy and shake his hand. We talk for a bit about my family before I let him get back to work and head inside to see the rest of the gathered throng.<\/p>\n Once inside, it’s clear that this SausageFest is different from those I’ve been to before. Many people I don’t recognize stand around the kitchen and a small table in the dining room with various goodies to eat. Various pop and rock songs play over the house speakers, while several huddle before a MacBook Pro to decide what to play next. I scan the contents of the food table, but there is no sausage ready to eat. Soon, though, Knitter appears. I say hi and he is quickly pulled away by another guest, as he plays the part of host. He returns shortly with a large pan of cheesy potatoes. My stomach has been rumbling, so I know that I will have to eat some right away.<\/p>\n With a plate of potatoes in one hand, and an ice cold beer in the other, I make my way back outside to check on the sausage. SausageFest is as much about seeing friends as it is about the sausage, but this isn’t just any old barbecue. Rudy has a method, one that he follows religiously to create a remarkable blend of sweet and spicy barbecue-y goodness in your mouth. While many people may come to SausageFest to visit and have a good time, if the swarm of mouths that descend upon the food table once the sausage is finished is any indication, they stay for the sausage.<\/p>\n Winter SausageFest is the kickoff for the 2011 SausageFest season<\/a>, the second season of the event to date. Last year, SausageFest began in the early summer and ran until it started to get too cold to comfortably stand outside. Several events even had croquet matches going on in the “garden” next to the deck. If the success of the most recent ‘Fest is any indication, it won’t matter how cold it is in the future. If you cook it, they will come.<\/p>\n If you’re interested in learning more about SausageFest or want to check out the calendar<\/a> for upcoming events, be sure to visit The Kansas City SausageFest Society homepage<\/a>. While there, check out the gallery<\/a> for images from Winter SausageFest, 2011. And be sure to come out next time. Bring your friends, some Mendolia’s<\/a> for the grill\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 and an empty belly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As I walk up Wyoming Street, the sound of music, laughter, and conversation drifts through the air. The Great Midwest Blizzard of 2011 has left a chill in the air, but the smell of sausage wafting down the street promises warmth. I turn up the driveway to the Knitter residence for Winter SausageFest and can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[134],"tags":[169,168],"class_list":["post-1896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life","tag-kansas-city","tag-sausagefest","post-preview"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2337,"url":"https:\/\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/2012\/02\/2337\/","url_meta":{"origin":1896,"position":0},"title":"Winter has come","author":"Jared Cash","date":"February 13, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Better late than never,\" grumbled Fall, as Winter rolled in across the Kansas plain. \"My apologies, brother,\" spake Winter. \"Spring had given me her assurances that she would take my watch. It would appear, however, that she is feeling under the weather this season.\" Fall clasped his cloak and donned\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A Day in the Life"","block_context":{"text":"A Day in the Life","link":"https:\/\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"20120213-091055.jpg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/20120213-091055.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/20120213-091055.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/20120213-091055.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/20120213-091055.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/20120213-091055.jpg?resize=1050%2C600 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/20120213-091055.jpg?resize=1400%2C800 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":203,"url":"https:\/\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/2008\/10\/obama-rally-kansas-city-mo-10-18-2008\/","url_meta":{"origin":1896,"position":1},"title":"Obama Rally – Kansas City, MO – 10-18-2008","author":"Jared Cash","date":"October 20, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I meant to have photos of the rally up by now, but as far back as I was, the pictures I got with my phone and camera weren't so hot. A gentleman standing next to me had a much nicer camera and said he'd e-mail me the photos. Once I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A Day in the Life"","block_context":{"text":"A Day in the Life","link":"https:\/\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/img_0130.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3344,"url":"https:\/\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/2015\/04\/fountain-city-sazerac\/","url_meta":{"origin":1896,"position":2},"title":"Fountain City Sazerac","author":"Jared Cash","date":"April 7, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Studio Neat released Highball, their latest iPhone app, today. It's a cocktail app with an emphasis on sharing. As a result, recipes are designed around beautiful cards: visual recipes that are easy to parse and can be imported into the Highball app to save the recipe and even edit it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Random Acts of Technology"","block_context":{"text":"Random Acts of Technology","link":"https:\/\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/category\/rat\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Fountain-City-Sazerac-Feature.png?fit=1000%2C1000&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Fountain-City-Sazerac-Feature.png?fit=1000%2C1000&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Fountain-City-Sazerac-Feature.png?fit=1000%2C1000&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Fountain-City-Sazerac-Feature.png?fit=1000%2C1000&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":710,"url":"https:\/\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/2008\/12\/proudest-moment-of-fatherhood-yet\/","url_meta":{"origin":1896,"position":3},"title":"Proudest moment of fatherhood, yet","author":"Jared Cash","date":"December 10, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"My wife and son were on the way to school this morning when something profound happened. They were listening to the radio and one of the DJ's on the morning show was talking about a handicapped man that lives on his own. They said that he was unable to pay\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Random"","block_context":{"text":"Random","link":"https:\/\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/category\/random\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3259,"url":"https:\/\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/2014\/10\/im-dreaming-of-a-blue-october\/","url_meta":{"origin":1896,"position":4},"title":"I’m dreaming of a Blue October","author":"Jared Cash","date":"October 1, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm exhausted. I stayed up far later than I had planned watching the Royals do something they haven't done since I was 5 years old. I'm not a die-hard baseball fan. I don't generally watch games on TV, and my\u00c2\u00a0family\u00c2\u00a0usually only makes it to a couple games a year. 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