By BRANDON WORF

bworf@dailynews.net

The sounds of soulful guitar playing, the smells of barbecue, racks of clothes, pieces of furniture and goods and wares of all kinds filled Main Street Saturday morning for the fourth annual Blues, Barbecue and Bargains event.

Put on by the Chestnut Street District, the event consisted of a sidewalk sale for downtown businesses, a sanctioned barbecue contest with a public taste testing, and live blues music throughout the event.

While the sidewalk sale drew crowds from all over, the highlights of the event were certainly the barbecue contest, and the live music.

"This is a really good time right now," said Donna Reidel of Ellis. Participating in the barbecue contest, Reidel, who owns Donna's Party Time BBQ, brought her best to the table in hopes of being able to stake a claim of having the best barbecue around.

"It's always up to the judges in the end," she said, "But it's a lot of fun, and you get to eat good food in the end."

Reidel has a history of doing well in most barbecue competitions around the area.

"We got first place at Ellsworth recently, and we've won the La Crosse competition three years in a row now," she said.

Reidel smoked her meats for the competition, while across the way on Main, downtown merchants displayed their goods, hoping the crowds would partake in the sales.

Derek Atkins, the store manager for White Chocolate said things had been lukewarm so far.

"It's not too bad right now ... not too busy, not too slow," Atkins said. "It would be better if more of the younger crowd came out."

Atkins said that while his store does cater to a younger audience, the turnout was still pretty good.

"I've sold more shoes to grandparents today than I have teenagers," he said. "But it's still all right."