Just when you begin to think that you might have taken a wrong turn while looking for a BBQ cook-off somewhere in South Texas, you come up on the LaGarto Store, and across the street is a pasture with a few mesquite trees, there is the cook-off area.

After 52 BBQ teams set up Friday night, Saturday morning kicked off with a small parade down FM 534.  By 10 Saturday morning the little community of LaGarto was buzzing, getting ready for the day’s events and their fund raiser for Halo Flight, Inc., a non-profit Air Ambulance Service.

Shortly after the helicopter landed, three skydivers parachuted in right above the cooks and landed on a small target in the middle of the cook-off area.

There was a motorcycle poker run, a sack race for the kids, arts & craft booths, horseshoe tournaments, gun fight show, and an auction, just to list a few.  They sold bbq plates, cold beverages, sausage wraps and other goodies.

Besides BBQ, you could also enter several non-sanctioned categories that included Pan de Campo, beans, and chili.  For those of us that are not familiar, Pan de Campo is a cowboy camp bread that is a very popular staple in South Texas.

A Calcutta was held for the top three brisket winners with a portion of the proceeds going to Halo Flight.  Trophies for the first place winners in each category were Dutch Ovens that were   donated and cash prizes were awarded 1st thru 3rd places.

Thanks go out to Michelle Pruski and Melanie Wendel for volunteering their time and services to be the IBCA Head Judges for this event.  You gals did a great job!

When this small community comes together to raise money for a worthy cause, no doubt about it ….they do it whole heartedly and have lots of support from the surrounding communities as well.

I suspect this cook-off will continue to grow with the hospitality and activities they offer, so put it on your calendar for next year.  Go cook some que, have fun and help Lagarto and South Texas raise funds for Halo Flight.

It seems that some cooks don’t think they should come to the Cook’s Meeting.  You never know when something has changed, even if the rules are always the same there is that possibility. 

We use to wait until the Cook’s Meeting to hand out trays but we took into consideration that the Cook’s need to be putting on their product at that time and don’t want to wait in line to receive their trays so we started handing them out on Friday night.  This is a convenience for the cook’s, NOT THE HEAD JUDGE, so we feel that you as the Head Cook should make every   effort to be at the Cook’s Meeting.

As Head Judge we try to make the Cook’s Meeting as short as possible so you can get back to your products.

Take into consideration that the Head Judge is volunteering their time.  If you aren’t cooking an event  then go out and help in the judging area.  It is a learning experience.

It is time to start thinking as to who you would like to be running your organization.  The position of Executive Director (Jeff Shivers) and 2 Board of Directors at Large  (Laverne Akin & Michelle Wade) terms will end September 1, 2007.

The terms for these offices are 2 years.  The Board also consist of 2 representatives from each “PIT” and a Secretary/Treasurer (Lynn). 

Nominations will be accepted by mail or email being sent to the   office.

It has been a very good start for the 2007 BBQ Cook-off season.  We have had 12 events so far this year and the average number of teams is close to 50. 

We continue to add events to the calendar on a weekly basis.  Again we can not stress the need for additional Head Judges.  If you are not cooking an event, then try to go out and help in the judging area.

Jeff & I made the trip to Smokin’ on the Rio, Mercedes, this year.  It was a long trip but a great event.  Chuck Sellman and his BBQ committee do an outstanding job of making this event happen.  They have plenty of room for growth, which they have done in 4 years, going from 17 teams to 91 teams. 

Congratulations to Johnny Trigg, Smokin’ Triggers on being named Grand Champion and to all that got their names called

Rumors

We have heard rumbles that the IBCA is back soliciting Promoters from other organizations.  IBCA has the policy that if the Promoter wants to change sanctioning bodies that they contact the previous organization to inform them that they wish to change.

We have never had the policy of back soliciting nor do we plan to.  We feel that it should be the Promoters’ choice as to which sanctioning organization they wish to go with.  The Cook’s have a lot of influence and it is the Promoter’s position to make sure that the cook’s are treated well and happy. Without the cooks they would not have an event.

If anyone would like to write an article on any IBCA event that you attend, we are always looking for things to go into the newsletter.This is your newsletter and we would like to supply information that you enjoy.

 IBCA Website and Forum
As we noted in last month’s newsletter, we have made a lot of changes to the IBCA website—

http://www.ibcabbq.org
Thanks to Don Wright, Darrell Quiroz and Terry Michael, the IBCA Forum has been a success also. 

If you have any pictures that you have taken at IBCA events, we would like to post them onto the webpage.  Contact either Lynn or Don Wright in reference to photos.

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