The ride to the fairgrounds could have been more uneventful. The girls were practicing some moves in the back of the tour bus. Cassady was reading about the pie contest rules online, that the contest sponsor posted. The rules and regulations each contestant had to follow.

Angela makes a few suggestions to Cassady about the tempo of their Moonshine song. She wanted to drop the rhythm some, making it sound slower.

“I like that idea. It will make it seem I’m drinking some.” Cassady knew they used water in their mason jar props for the song.

“I thought you might like it. Have you decided what you are going to wear at the fairgrounds?”

“Not yet. I considered wearing jeans, a nice western shirt, and cowboy boots.” Cassady knew she needed to update her wardrobe.

“That sounds nice.” Angela didn’t know much about Cassady and wanted to learn more about her.

Cassady had bailed them out when their manager screwed their gig up. They usually played 80’s rock-style music, but he had gotten them a country gig. If Cassady hadn’t taught them some popular country music songs, they would have been booed right off the stage.

As it turned out, since they played country music so well. They have been getting more and more gigs from country western bars and venues. They still play a few rock songs but were better known as a country western band.

It seemed that there weren’t many girl groups playing instruments in the country western scene. Since they were a band, it was even rarer. So, here they were, playing country music for a living.

When the girls arrived at the fairgrounds, they were dropped off. So they could check in with the different events they would be judging. Cynthia had already gotten them their backstage passes and fairground passes.

“All right, ladies, go and have some fun. Remember, you must be at the arena and ready by seven o’clock.” Cynthia hopes the girls remember they were on first.

“The Arena?” Debbi looks at Cynthia for clarification.

“Yep, the arena. You girls are playing out in the arena. The fairgrounds crew will have everything set up for you ladies.” A smile appears on
Cynthia’s face. A considerable crowd would surround the girls.

“There go my new boots.” Juni looks down at her boots.

“You’ll be able to get new boots later, Juni.” Jessie looks at her friend.

The girls go off to check in with the different events they volunteer for. Debbi checked in with the other two judges that were judging the barbecue. Greg Nagan and Mike Bourdage were the other two judges she was judging with. She recognized each man from the outdoor Barbecue magazine her friend got. He was into barbecue and wanted to be like these men.

“Hello, gentlemen. I’m Debbi Winslow with The Angels.” Debbi smiles at both men.

“Hi, I’m Greg Nagan, and this old man next to me is Mike Bourdage.” Greg shakes Debbi’s hand first, followed by Mike.

“It’s nice to meet you guys.” Debbi shakes each man’s hand.

“Is this your first time judging a barbecue contest?” Mike looks at Debbi’s sweet innocent-looking face.

“Yes, sir, it is. The event organizers asked if I would like to be a judge.” Debbi watches each man’s facial expression.

“Well, you have the best teachers here who can explain everything. Why don’t we go into the camper, and we’ll explain everything to you?”

“Okay.” Debbi follows the two men into a camper for them.

Chili Judging Station:
Juni walks over to where the chili contest is taking place. She notices the contestants arriving and setting up their grills and such. She noticed several people had vast amounts of awards for the best chili. She walks over to a young woman at the judging table “excuse me, but I’m looking for whoever is in charge here.”

Carolyn turns around and spots a young Asian woman dressed in western clothing, wearing a nice black hat with silver stitching and feathers. It looked like it was custom-made for the woman.

“I’m one of the judges for this event. How can I help you, ma’am?” Carolyn couldn’t believe how beautiful the woman standing before her was.

Juni noticed the young woman standing before her with shoulder-length chestnut color hair looked. She had sparkling freckles that dotted her face. She also had a country accent to her speech as well. She noticed the young woman was wearing traditional western wear, just like she was.

“Hi, I’m Juni Kumar, a member of The Angels. I was asked to report over here to judge some chili.” A smile appeared on Juni’s face as she held
her hand out to the young woman.

“Carolyn Mercer, I’m the organizer for this event. I was just informed a few minutes ago that you were coming.” Carolyn shakes Juni’s held-out hand. She noticed the young woman had an excellent grip.

“I’ll be honest with you. I haven’t judged a chili contest before. All of this is new to me.” Juni thought she should be honest with Carolyn.

“Oh, it’s easy. Just choose which one you like a lot. I will warn you, some of these chilies can be a little hot.”

“I love hot, spicy foods.” A playful smile appears on Juni’s face.

“Trust, some of these chili makers can spice their chili up.”

Juni gives Carolyn a look. Let’s see how hot and spicy they can go. She didn’t mind, “I’m up to a challenge.”

“All right, you’ve been warned. Let me introduce you to the three other judges.” Carolyn escorts Juni over to the other judges.

The girls tend to their respective contests and such throughout the day. Jessie and Cassady met up to have funnel cakes and corn dogs for lunch. Juni joins them after the chili contest, sweating and drinking buttermilk from a large cup.

“I am not going to do that again.” Juni was still recovering from the last chili she tried.

“What happened, Juni?” Debbi comes walking over to everyone with a basket in her hands.

“One of the contestants used Carolina Reaper and Trinidad Moruga Scorpion peppers in their chili and didn’t warn us. I took one bite of that chili, and it nearly killed me. The judge next to me started screaming from taking just one bite.”

“You’re the one that said hot and spicy stuff doesn’t bother you.” Debbi loved teasing Juni.

“Normally, they don’t. I can eat Thai chili peppers without any problems. However, Ghost and Scorpion peppers are in a class of their own.”

“Will you be able to sing tonight?” Angela comes walking over to her group.

“Yeah, but I will be hurting tonight when I go to the bathroom.” Juni drinks some more buttermilk to cool her throat.

“I know that feeling.” Cassady experienced that feeling before. She ate a bunch of hot wings a friend bought her and didn’t tell her they were spicy.

“Well, I brought us some barbecue the contestants made. I have to say that the winner did real good for a first-timer.”

“How many contestants did you have?” Angela was curious.

“Close to one hundred contestants, then we chose the five best and judged them.” Debbi enjoyed judging the barbecue contest.

“I bet none of them used Ghost peppers on their barbecue.” Juni takes another sip of her buttermilk.

“Nope.” Debbi had a smirk on her face.

“Well, we better get ready to perform.” Jessie looks at her bandmates.

Angela looks at Jessie “you are a buzz killer, you know that?”

“Hey, we have two big stars we have to impress tonight. I want to go out and do our best.” Jessie was a little worried about their performance.

“We will knock them dead tonight, cousin.” Cassady hugs her cousin.

Jessie looks at her cousin as they return to the bus to prepare for tonight’s performance.