Event celebrates spirit of recovery

Clarification: A photograph on Page B1 on Sunday, September 13, 2009 showed Laura Biltz and daughter Schuyler dancing to the music of Peter Tork and Shoe Suede Blues at the Recovery Fest in Glen Allen. Biltz is acquainted with the performers and took her daughter to the festival to meet them. Although the headline with the story said “Former addicts celebrate at fest,” many of the people in attendance — Biltz and her daughter included — are not former addicts.

Recovery never tasted so good.

About 5,000 people turned out at Mount Vernon Baptist Church in Glen Allen yesterday to celebrate overcoming obstacles, offering hope and mending lives.

They also came to eat pig.

In its fifth year, The McShin Foundation's Recovery Fest was highlighted by its first barbecue cook-off.

Nine local restaurants participated in the challenge, which was decided by judges including Chesterfield County Sheriff Dennis Proffitt, Henrico County Sheriff Michael Wade and Richmond Sheriff C.T. Woody.

"There were plenty of ribs coming around the table until Sheriff Woody sat down," joked Wade as the judges did their less-than-grueling duty, passing bowls and plates of pulled pork and beans.

In the end, Extra Billy's Barbecue in Richmond took both the blind taste and people's choice prizes while Alamo BBQ in Church Hill brought home best ribs and brisket.

John Shinholser, president of The McShin Foundation, organized the event five years ago to coincide with National Recovery Month.

"We just celebrate recovery from addiction, put a voice and face to it and put the community at ease that recovery is abundant, available and there for the taking," he said.

The McShin Foundation is a Richmond-based, nonprofit recovery organization founded in 2004 to help individuals and families fight substance abuse disorders.

Fun for kids and adults yesterday came in the form of inflatable games, bean-bag tosses and live music including Shoe Suede Blues, featuring Peter Tork, formerly of The Monkees.

Dozens of addiction service providers were on hand as part of a health fair sponsored by Substance Abuse and Addiction Recovery Alliance.

George Beadles, a Chesterfield resident working the Narcotics Anonymous booth, said the event was a great outlet for the families of people with drug and alcohol addictions.

"If you can interest the families, then you're that much closer to influencing the person," he said. "The families suffer more than the person. You know how bad it feels when you go somewhere and your old man is wearing a suit that's 25 years old and totally out of style? You suffer. He doesn't. He thinks it looks good."

Del. William R. Janis, R-Henrico, a friend of Shinholser's, attended and spoke at the festival.

"I'm just here to celebrate with a lot of folks whose lives John has changed," he said. "He's done more good as a private person working with a private foundation than what government could do with 100 times the money."

Janis said the cause also had personal significance. At the age of 5, he remembers his father collapsing with convulsions from delirium tremens the Sunday after he gave up drinking.

His grandmother, knowing it was withdrawal, ran to his uncle's home to get whiskey to alleviate the symptoms, he said.

"Lying there on the floor, he said, 'Billy, whatever you do, don't let her back in because if she comes back in with that whiskey I'm going to drink it.' So I locked my grandmother out of the apartment," Janis recalled.

His father went to a Veterans Administration hospital and never had another drink, he said.

Contact Wesley P. Hester at (804) 649-6976 or .