NewsBytes

07/21/2026

What a great day. Congratulations to all the winners….. will get you next year 

 🏆 What an incredible day! 🏆

Our 4th Annual Manorville Fire Department Vigilant Truck & Engine Company 3 BBQ Competition was a tremendous success, and we couldn’t have done it without the amazing support of our community.

First, congratulations to all of our winners!

🥇 1st Place: Coram Fire Department Engine 2
🥈 2nd Place: SmoKen Meatz BBQ
🥉 3rd Place: Mountain Man BBQ
🏆 People’s Choice: Team NSSC

To every BBQ team that competed, thank you for bringing your passion, talent, and incredible food. The competition gets better every year because of all of you.

A huge thank you to our sponsors, vendors, volunteers, judges, entertainers, and everyone who helped behind the scenes. Countless hours of planning and hard work went into making this event possible, and we’re grateful for every person who donated their time and support.

Most importantly, thank you to everyone from the community who came out to support us. Your attendance helps us continue serving our community through scholarships, community programs, and the ongoing mission of Vigilant Truck & Engine Company 3.

We are incredibly proud of what we’ve built together over the past four years, and we can’t wait to make next year’s event even bigger and better.

Congratulations again to all of our winners, and we’ll see everyone at the 5th Annual BBQ Competition! 🔥🚒🐖❤️

07/19/2026

07/19/2026

It’s Ribday, the best day of the week!!
Come on down to the Manorville fire department gates open at 3, tickets still available.
all the ribs, beer, burgers, hotdogs and roasted corn you can eat , live music from Livewire.
Come bye and say Hi

07/18/2026

🍖🔥 Alert: The ribs are calling… and they’re judging us.
The Manorville FD 4th Annual Smoking Rib-off just got moved to the rain date — this Sunday, July 19th (because Mother Nature apparently hates perfectly smoked meat).
Our team News Bytes has been showing up since the very beginning… mostly because we’re too stubborn to quit and too hungry to stay home.
Come watch us attempt to win one of these absolute bad ass trophies, I snuck a peek at. They’re so shiny and glorious they deserve their own zip code.
Big thanks to this ridiculously handsome fella Andrew Preli and the rest of the Manorville FD crew who are working their tails off to pull this off while the rest of us just show up to eat.
If you see Andrew tomorrow, ask him where the News Bytes circus is parked. Swing by, say hi, and feel free to mock our grilling skills — we can take it (probably).
See you at the Manorville Fire Department — let’s make some smoke and questionable life choices! 🔥🥩😂

07/17/2026

Sunday funday
The NEWS BYTES will be there with their Peach Heat Twist ribs

07/15/2026

Moving to the rain date
Sunday July 19th

07/14/2026

Moving to the rain date
Sunday July 19th

🍖🔥 News Bytes is rolling into the Manorville Fire Department Rib-Off for our 4th straight year — Sunday July 19!🔥🍖
After 10+ years of questionable life choices and charcoal therapy, we’re back to battle 16 other teams while feeding 100s of hungry guests. The crowd gets to pick their favorites… and there’s also official judging by police, the fire chief, and politicians
(so basically everyone who already has power over us).
Your 2026 News Bytes All-Stars:
• Ed Sweeting – your loyal captain
• Joe Arena – News 12 anchorman & The East End show co-host (he’s the pretty one)
• Erin Stephenson (assignment editor) & Mary Arena (Joe’s daughter)– running hospitality and handing out ribs for the 3rd year. Come say hi… they’re nicer than the rest of us
• Jim Steffanie – retired News 12 engineer & original member. He helped us win our first contest 10 years ago… and remains undefeated in BBQ (mostly because he only competed once and he has been riding that glory ever since)
• Dennis Clark (“DJ Dennis the Menace”) – NY Post photographer, wedding DJ, and our former BBQ rival who finally surrendered and joined the dark side this year
We’re attempting to duplicate Heath Riles’ (2-time Memphis in May champ) ribs with a Peach Heat twist. Pray for us.
What’s happening besides our delicious chaos:
• Live music by Live Wire
• Inflatable obstacle course + mechanical bull for the kids (and brave adults)
• Burgers, dogs, sides, vendors… and all-you-can-drink beer & wine for only $50
Starts at 3:00 PM. Come out, eat ridiculous amounts of ribs, drink responsibly (or not), and vote for News Bytes so we can keep bragging for another year!
Who’s ready to get sauced? 🍻 Tag your crew and let’s make this the best Rib-Off yet!