Here is a status update on the progress of the competition. It is still in the idea stage and I am not sure if we can pull it off, but for the time being I will keep doing my homework. Thanks in advance for being my sounding board.

Last week I met with the health inspector and he is on board with the overall plan. That’s one step closer!

I also talked with a guy who organized a similar type of competition at the county fair a number of years ago. He gave me a folder with all their forms, judging sheets and scoring criteria, along all their other guidelines. The bonus was they took a lot of very detailed notes describing what they did step by step, with a time line for literally everything that needed to be done. It went from several months out and continued right up to the day of the event. That looks to be very helpful and we will not need to invent the wheel.

We also kicked around some ideas to try and build interest leading up to the competition. One thought was to offer a series of 3 or 4 community classes or forums focused on BBQ and food related topics. They would probably be on a week night and fairly informal. It could also be condensed into one evening session with multiple topics. If we can get people to become involved ahead of time then the cook-off would be kind of the grand finally. It would be an opportunity for people to put into practice what they have learned.

We talked about doing a Basic BBQ 101 kind of class (more of a hands-on, how-to group). Another idea was: What are judges judging when they judge?. It would be a discussion geared toward people who have never entered a competition, but would be interested in learning what's involved. As I see it, it would focus on the different criteria various organizations use for their competitions. We could also use it as a way to introduce how judging will be done at our competition. 

The inspector from the health department said he would be willing to do a session on food safety. We were thinking along the lines of: Everything you wanted to know about the health department, but were afraid to ask! He said it could be a good outreach opportunity for his department seen as less intimidating to the casual cook. People could also learn about the new “cottage laws” in our state. They allow people to make certain things at home and sell them at farmers markets and other public places.

Please feel free to list any forum topics that you think might be of interest. For now the plan is to keep plugging away until we reach a point where go/no go decision will need to be made. As of today we are a go! Thanks again for your input and help.

several years ago I participated (twice) in a church ... just for fun competition.   My only caution is to not make this a popularity contest, try to stick with the best BBQ wins.   Me being a relative unknown with some solid Q really hurt to be beat by more recognizable teams.   It was a downer to participate in the meetings and lead up to the comp and end up losing to more recognizable folks.  A difficult ask to be sure but blind judging is the way to go.

DK

several years ago I participated (twice) in a church ... just for fun competition.   My only caution is to not make this a popularity contest, try to stick with the best BBQ wins.   Me being a relative unknown with some solid Q really hurt to be beat by more recognizable teams.   It was a downer to participate in the meetings and lead up to the comp and end up losing to more recognizable folks.  A difficult ask to be sure but blind judging is the way to go.

DK

You are absolutely correct, judging is critical. I would like to have judges lined up early on. My plan is to find people who have some type of certification or have solid cooking experience that people in the community would recognize. I am looking forward to getting together with someone in the next week or two who I believe is KCBS certified and might be able to give sage advice and valuable input on how to proceed. 

I'm more a Chili man, when it comes to competition... and I can sympathize with the whole  issue of getting beat by popularity thing.  Not that I should have necessarily 'won', but the winning entry for the last 'Chili' cookoff thing I was  involved int , was much more like a spicy chowder, than it was chili.

do you believe KCBS judge's scores are too high or too low? I have heard people say they believe the scores are too high.

Many KCBS Judges feel the judging goes 7,8, or 9!

Met with what's become our ad hoc committee. Looks like we have some tentative dates in mind. The event is still not for sure, but getting closer.

August 15 we are planning a pre-BBQ dinner. On the menu will be ribs cooked in various ways (pellet, stick, charcoal). My hope is some of the judges for the competition will be willing to help with the dinner and do some of the cooking. The cooks will plate their samples in turn-in boxes.

For those attending the dinner, the meal will consist of a turn-in box from each cook and a selection of sides. This will be an opportunity to see what a turn-in box should look like, and to sample different ways of cooking ribs. This will also give us a chance to talk about different ways of scoring and the criteria to be used for our competition. People attending the dinner will then be given score sheets so they will able to judge the judges! My hope is this will help level the playing field and alleviate some of the concerns that LSJ and DK brought up.

There will be an open forum panel discussion on the "How to's of BBQ". We will also invite the sanitarian from the health department to come that night and talk a bit about food safety.

August 24 BBQ Cook-off.
As it now stands:
*It will be open to a limited number of entrants (need to see how many spots will fit in the yard).
*Entrants will compete in the categories of chicken thighs and/or pork ribs.
*Entry fee will include one pre-BBQ dinner ticket (others could be purchased); and on the day of the event enough meat to prepare for turn-ins along with incidental supplies (clam shells, paper goods, etc.).
*Entrants will also have the option of purchasing additional ribs and chicken to prepare and cook the day of, if they would like to sell to the public and compete for the "People's Choice" award.
*Plaques or trophies will be given out as prizes. Still debating on cash prizes. It all depends on how much we want to charge for an entry fee.
*We will look for sponsors for each plaque given out. Sponsors will get their name on the plaque and recognition in local paper, and on poster/event banner on the day of the event.

It is still very much a work in progress, but it seems to be coming together.