Lawrys Live at the CMAfest

One of the tastiest places at the CMA Music Festival had to be the Lawry's Live Cooking Caravan located in the Fun Zone on Broadway at Riverfront Park. Stars joined Lawry's Allison Benaderet for an hour of cooking demonstrations utilizing the Lawry's products as well as new tips from the star's own kitchens. Benaderet was joined throughout the weekend by Miss America 2004 - Ericka Dunlap, Lisa O'Kane, Memarie, Chalee Tennison, Ken Mellons, Anthony Michael James and Trent Willmon.

I was personally only able to attend two of the demonstrations in 2004 and neither of the guest then were hard to look at. Country singer and longtime Nashville resident, Ken Mellons, joined Benaderet on Friday afternoon and shared his own tips for marinating meats, as he does a lot of cooking on his own. He was very quick to play to the crowd offering up Lawry's product photo ops giving his best Vanna White style pose throughout the demonstration. He even treated the crowd with a few of his well-known hits accapella including Rub-A-Dubbin'. Mellons stayed until he spoke to every fan that wanted to speak to him and granted requests for autographs.

Unfortunately, on Sunday, the sounds from the karaoke trailer hindered the efforts of Trent Willmon to get his own tune in his head. And you have to wonder what it was like for Willmon to go with the structured Lawry's recipe when he is extremely familiar with a grill. With help from a friend, he built his own smoker grill, so this guy definitely knows his way around a kitchen. Following the demonstration, he treated the audience to "Trent Willmon - Beer Man" koozies. And of course, Willmon has made sure to fulfill autograph requests by the fans both years. Willmon was invited back to cook with the Lawry's folks in 2005.