While I truly enjoyed the event, seeing our BBQ friends and meeting new neighbors I really need to comment on a couple of things.
There needed to be more porta-potties and at least one additional dumpster. There were 27 teams in January with the same amount of johns and dumpsters as there were this time around with 47-48 teams. Seriously...some hand sanitizer in the johns please...this is a food event.
The amount of garbage around the dumpster at the end of the event would have easily filled a second and maybe a third. There were pans of grease setting out in the open...a mess just waiting to happen. Bag it at least people. I think these two items need to be seriously addressed.
On a more positive note...thank you for setting up tents for the judging area and not making us walk the obstacle course of uneven stairs, bridge, and patio area for turn-ins. My knees really thank you!
Thanks to Rock Springs for hosting us and putting up prize funds, and gift certificates for early bird entries. Good food, good times...just need to get some more logistics worked out. I will not comment of the judging.
Crystal, Thanks for your feedback. There were supposed to be 8 Port-a-Johns & 3 Dumpsters along with Hand Wash Stations, Ash Bins & Grease Bins. These were discussed & assigned during our last logistics meeting there at Rock Springs Cafe. Obviously the person in charge of that majorly dropped the ball & we will address this with Rock Springs at our recap meeting.
I also do agree with you on the Trash, I don't understand why people don't put things in bags. I personally drove around during the event and after the event picking up Trash & bagging what I could. It's hard to keep getting sponsors back if we don't take care of the venue they provide us. Granted, they did not have enough trash bins & dumpsters, but still, it's the teams responsibility to bag up their own trash & leave it out for us to pick up. We will work on improving this for future events.
As for the Judging, we do agree that the Judges for this event were tough, why, we don't know, but everyone had to go through the same judges & criteria, so saying the Judging was off is taking away from the Teams who did do well and have been up there for many events, it's not like teams won who never competed before and who haven't been working hard to improve. We did get a lot of feedback, both good & bad along with lots of suggestions. Our BCS Group will meet in the next few weeks to discuss all of these & continue to improve the sanctioning & training of Judges. For our 3rd Major event, we do feel it went very well and we look forward to making our adjustments & improving on future events.
Thanks again to everyone for their support, it was great to see so many teams & to see everyone actually enjoying an event again. That's what these are for, to enjoy. Yes, there is money on the line & we want you to take your BBQing seriously, but we also want everyone to have Fun. BBQ is Fun once again..