Perhaps you haven’t noticed, but we’re knee-deep in barbecue sauce, and I’m not just talking about the unfortunate incident with the industrial-size pressure cooker in my kitchen. I’m talking about the flood of barbecue restaurants opening in Lawrence. Now we are seeing the flip side of that equation, as one large player in the barbecue scene has exited the Lawrence market.

As I reported yesterday on my Twitter feed (@clawhorn_ljw), Famous Dave’s has closed its barbecue restaurant at Sixth Street and Wakarusa Drive. It was a quick operation that caught many by surprise as the signs came off the building Monday afternoon. I got in touch with the group that owns the franchise for the Famous Dave’s in Lawrence, and a spokesman there said the decision simply came down to the business environment.

“Sales just weren’t quite meeting expectations,” said Christian Brabec, marketing manager for Lincoln, Neb.-based Concord Hospitality Inc., the franchisee for the Lawrence area. “People are staying home and not eating out as much, and sales just weren’t where we needed them to be.”

Brabec didn’t specifically mention the competitors in the Lawrence market, but activity in the barbecue arena has been significant. (When I say “barbecue arena,” I’m speaking metaphorically, and not of the area I’ve cordoned off where my neighbor and I battle to near death with tongs, turkey basters and wet wipes.) Wichita-based Hog Wild Pit BBQ has opened its Lawrence location on 23rd Street in recent weeks, and Lawrence-based Biggs BBQ recently has opened its downtown location. But closer to home for Famous Dave’s is the fact that the large chain of Dickey’s Barbecue Pit is opening at the Sixth and Wakarusa intersection. As we’ve previously reported, Dickey’s is going into the space at 721 Wakarusa Drive, which previously housed Johnny Brusco’s New York-style pizza restaurant. The Dickey’s location is basically right around the corner from the Famous Dave’s location. When we reported on the restaurant in mid-August, plans called for the Lawrence location to be open in six to eight weeks.

Brabec said Famous Dave’s had been in operation in Lawrence for about 3 and a half years. The company made a big jump into the market not just by opening the restaurant; the owner of the franchise actually bought the entire shopping center at Sixth and Wakarusa. (The one around the corner that will house Dickey’s is owned by a different group.) Brabec said the company doesn’t yet have plans for the vacant Famous Dave’s space.

“We’re waiting to see if some people reach out to us, but nothing is planned or set in stone on that space yet,” Brabec said.

The space is adjacent to the popular, locally owned Six Mile Chophouse, which shares some space with its sister business Six Mile Tavern. There’s no official word, but I’ve heard that the owners of Six Mile Chophouse may consider an expansion.

As for folks who had plans to visit Famous Dave’s, Brabec said all gift cards to Famous Dave’s will continue to be honored at any location. The company also is reaching out to everyone who has booked catering or banquet events with the company, and is working to make sure those events still happen. People with other questions are asked to call the Topeka restaurant, which also is owned by Concorde. Its number is 785-272-2944.

In other news and notes from around town:

• At Lawrence City Hall, you can almost keep track of the seasons by watching the various proclamations that come through the door at Tuesday evening meetings. For those of us who have been to a couple of decades’ worth of meetings, you notice the same ones each year. For example, October is always Meet the Blind Month and also Community Planning Month. And then there is April, which is the official month of months, with National Service Recognition Day, Public Health Week, Parkinson’s Disease Awareness Month, Child Abuse Prevention Month, Fair Housing Month, and one of my favorites, Mathematics Awareness Month, which I normally celebrate by buying an inordinate amount of lottery tickets.

But there was a new one on Tuesday night: Sweet Potato Month. That’s right, we’re living it right now.

Sweet Potato Month is a neat effort by several local farmers to bring some recognition to a crop that once was a major part of Douglas County’s agricultural economy but has faded a bit. John and Karen Pendleton and Bob and Joy Lominska are two of the larger sweet potato growers in the area, and they believe the crop once again can become a significant player in the area’s agricultural scene. They note that it is one of the easiest vegetables to grow in northeast Kansas, because it adapts very well to heat.

They and others are doing their best to boost awareness, and their efforts go well beyond asking the mayor to read a proclamation. Every Tuesday in October, a group of 11 locally owned restaurants will participate in what they’re calling Tuber Tuesday, which means the restaurants will feature a sweet potato dish on their menus. A list of the restaurants is available at the group’s Web site, celebratesweetpotatoes.com.

The sweet potato group also is hosting a “Community Sweet Potato Potluck” at 6 p.m. Nov. 8 at the Carnegie Building at Ninth and Vermont streets. The public is invited to bring their favorite sweet potato dish and sample all the others. Prizes will be awarded.

As part of the proclamation process Tuesday night, I got a recipe for sweet potato biscuits and also one for sweet potato pie. That was nice, but as a veteran of proclamation readings, I feel I should say that it wouldn’t break proclamation protocol if the group wanted to bring, say, biscuits and pie for everyone at the meeting in future years. Groups receiving proclamations have been known to do such things. For example, I still have an advanced calculus equation I’m working on from Mathematics Awareness Month, which is one of the reasons why you’ve seen me barefooted more often recently.