On Saturday I headed to the 4th Annual Big Apple BBQ with some friends. This year, in an attempt to ease the long lines of years past, the Q offered a "fast pass" that you could purchase in advance and pre-load with money. Then you could use the fast pass line rather than the regular queue. Alas, even the fast pass line was slow and crowded, and I fear the Big Apple BBQ doesn't work well with the number of people who attend.
Every year the Big Apple team does their utmost to address the issue of long lines and crowding at this very popular event, and every year the lines are still really long. Honestly, I'm not sure what they could do to fix this. We discussed the issue in depth as we waited over forty minutes on Saturday afternoon in the fast line for Salt Lick brisket. You could easily spend your entire afternoon just trying to get a plate of brisket, some pulled pork, and some ribs, because each pit serves one thing, and each pit has its own long line. And then there's another line for beer and wine. And dessert. Unless you bring a team of folks and divide up the food acquisition tasks, it's just not feasible to sample any kind of variety of BBQ without committing hours to the process.
I want to love the Big Apple BBQ because it's a great idea and brings great food and people together in the city. But my group didn't have the energy to withstand hours of line-waiting and ultimately we headed home, less full of BBQ than we would have liked.