I may have accidentally started a regional barbecue war

So I accidentally set off a regionwide barbecue debate on Twitter. I was walking through the St. John/Valley neighborhood yesterday morning and caught a waft of the aroma from Salvage BBQ, where they start smoking their delicious meats bright and early.

I naturally Tweeted about it, because of course, and tagged former Red Sox closer and 2004 World Series hero Keith Foulke, a Texan who’d said on a previous radio interview that he enjoys eating at Salvage when he’s traveling in the area.

You may be surprised to know that Keith Foulke has more Twitter followers than I do, but when he retweeted the post and responded enthusiastically, other barbecue enthusiasts and restaurants from around New England caught on.

Challenges were made and the social media conversation snowballed. All in good fun, though, and maybe something of a brisket taste test challenge will become of it. Since I’ve got you here, though, let me know who you think has the best barbecue in Maine by Tweeting @SethKoenig and using the hashtag #BrisketBattle.  

Let’s see where this goes.

What we’re talking about

Keep your eyes open for a movie being filmed in Portland starting Monday, according to the city of Portland’s Twitter feed. The movie is titled “Love By Drowning,” based on a novel by C.E. Poverman. The movie stars Colin Egglesfield, best known for acting in the soap opera “All My Children,” Nicky Whalen, from the 2011 comedy “Hall Pass,” and Mercedes Mason, from AMC’s zombie drama “Fear the Walking Dead.”

Proponents of a casino in York County have released images of what that facility might look like, according to Maine Public’s Fred Bever. The casino backers said they’re also eyeing Old Orchard Beach as one potential town within the county to place it. Maine voters will decide in November whether to allow a new casino to be built in York County.

Meteorologists are gauging how Hurricane Irma will affect Maine, CBS 13 is reporting. While the hurricane has become one of the strongest on record and is expected to do tremendous damage this weekend when it hits Florida, the worst Maine will see is heavy rains in the following week, forecasters are now saying. The BDN’s Nok-Noi Ricker spoke to Maine natives in Florida about how they’re bracing for — or fleeing from — the storm. Hurricane Jose, which is right on Irma’s heels, has been upgraded to a Category 4, as well.

One of Maine’s southernmost high school teams was scheduled to embark on what would have been among the longest road trips for a football game in state history this weekend, but the team had to cancel. Kittery’s Traip Academy was slated to play Washington Academy in East Machias in what would have been a 500-plus-mile round trip, but a Traip school official told the BDN’s Ernie Clark that because of injuries and other circumstances, they don’t have enough players and had to forfeit.

Tweet of the day

From UberFacts:

The Big Idea

Yet another troubling aspect of this particularly fierce hurricane season is the potential for vast stretches of standing water in the aftermath of this chain of storms. Scientists worry this will create a perfect breeding ground for mosquitos, which carry diseases like the West Nile Virus.

Got any interesting story ideas, suggestions or links to share? Email us at jbleiberg@bangordailynews.com or skoenig@bangordailynews.com, or tweet @JZBleiberg or @SethKoenig.

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