BBQ Smoke, Craft Beer, and a Whole Lot of Neighbors: Star Bright at the 2026 Brew & BBQ Bash

Star Bright Electric sponsored — and set up a booth at — Streetsboro's Brew & BBQ Bash on Saturday, August 15.

There are worse ways to spend a Saturday in August than standing in Streetsboro City Park with barbecue smoke drifting past, fourteen breweries pouring, and a hair-metal cover band warming up behind you. We know, because that is exactly how we spent August 15.

Star Bright Electric was a sponsor of this year's Brew & BBQ Bash, hosted by Streetsboro Parks & Recreation, and we had a booth in the middle of it all. The whole thing runs one day only, which means the park packs a full festival into a single afternoon and evening. Here is how it went.

The Competition

Eleven barbecue teams fired up for the competition this year, and the judging ran through the usual gauntlet of categories on the way to a Grand Champion.

Jay Rhea BBQ took the Grand Champion title. Sucka Bone BBQ out of Ravenna finished as runner-up — always good to see the hometown represented, since Ravenna is where we hang our hat too. On the People's Choice side, where the crowd does the voting, Pink Piggy BBQ from Macedonia took the win with Chasin' Tailz BBQ, also from Ravenna, right behind them.

Between the competition teams, the food trucks, and the dessert trucks, vendors sold out. That is the sign of a good festival and a hungry crowd.

Fourteen Breweries and a Very Busy Beer Tent

Fourteen Northeast Ohio and regional breweries poured this year, including Aeonian Brewing, Broadview Brewing, Deschutes Brewery, Lock 15 Brewing, Missing Falls Brewery, Thirsty Dog, and Victory Brewing. Craft beer sales nearly doubled over last year's Bash, which tells you something about both the turnout and the weather.

The Rest of the Show

The Hot Red Chili Peppers and EndRock handled the music. Away from the stage, the White Lotus Kung Fu group put on a demonstration, the St. Helen Unicycle Drill Team did their thing — which never stops being impressive — and the inflatables kept the kids busy long enough for their parents to eat a sandwich in peace.

Our Booth: Six Winners and a Lot of Gold Stars

We brought two things to the park: a giveaway and a bucket of gold stars.

The giveaway was a free home safety inspection, a $349 value, and we drew six winners over the course of the day. A safety inspection is not the flashiest prize at a barbecue festival — nobody is going to out-shine a monster truck — but it is the one we actually believe in. Most of the electrical problems we get called out for were visible months earlier to somebody who knew where to look. Six households in this area now get that look for free.

The swag was simpler. We handed out positive affirmation gold stars, the kind you got on a spelling test in second grade, except these ones were for adults who made it to a Saturday in August. People wore them. Kids collected them. A few folks came back for a second one on behalf of someone who was having a rough week.

Mostly, though, we came to talk to people. That is the honest reason we sponsor and staff these events. Our crew spends most of the week in basements, crawlspaces, and panel rooms, and a festival booth is one of the few chances we get to meet the people we work for before something goes wrong at their house. We answered a lot of questions about panel upgrades and EV chargers, met homeowners who had been meaning to call somebody about a flickering circuit, and caught up with customers we had not seen since the last job.

Congratulations to our six inspection winners, and thank you to everyone who stopped by.

Where the Money Went

The competition proceeds went where they were meant to: $810 to Special Olympics' "Portage Grin and Bear It" and $520 to the Streetsboro Heritage Foundation. Two local organizations, funded by a park full of people eating ribs. That is a good system.

See You Next Year

Thank you to Streetsboro Parks & Recreation for running a genuinely well-organized day, to the pitmasters and brewers who made it worth showing up for, and to everyone who came by the Star Bright booth to say hello.

Next year's Bash is already on the calendar for Saturday, August 14, 2027. We will be there, and we will have a booth. Come find us.

⚡ Star Bright Electric — a finished work of art, wired right and shining bright.