If last year’s taste test is any indicator, SweeTango will shine again at this weekend’s Silver Lake Sand Dunes Apple & BBQ Cook-Off Festival in Hart, Mich.

A year ago, Rennhack Orchards Farm Market conducted a taste-off between Honeycrisp, Zestar! and the offspring of those two varieties, SweeTango.

The upstart SweeTango beat out its parent apples, said Joann Rennhack, who operates the orchard and the farm market with her husband, David Rennhack.

Joann used colored tickets to track the preferences of people who sampled slices of all three varieties.

“The most common comment before people try SweeTango is, ‘There is no apple like Honeycrisp,’ Joann said. “And we say, ‘Try it,’ and then they try it and a delightful expression comes across their face they’ll say, ‘Wow’ … that’s what everyone says.”

Rennhack Orchards puts up a tent each year at the BBQ Festival and fairgoers line up to sample a variety of apples.

“It’s so fun to introduce people to new varieties of apples because they have no idea how many there are,” Joann said.

The Rennhack’s SweeTango crop is looking great this year, Joann said.

“Today is the fouth day of harvest and they’re coming off beautifully and they’re wonderfully colored,” she said. “This is the first year we’ve really had a big crop because the trees are big enough.”

SweeTango apples will be on sale at the Rennhack’s booth at the fair. They also are available at the farm market.

The BBQ Cook-Off, which begins Sept. 9 and concludes Sept. 10, features plenty of good food. Cooks from all over the region compete in the sanctioned Kansas City-style BBQ contest. Festival visitors also can check out dune buggies, antique cars and crafts of all sorts.