MuskogeePhoenix.com, Muskogee, OK

Fort Gibson

Discussion

November 11, 2009

Barbecue event netted $6,500

Fort Gibson's first barbecue and bluegrass festival finished in the black financially and organizers are enthusiastically looking forward to next year's event.

The last Friday and Saturday of each October were set as the permanent dates for the event in a in a post-festival committee meeting last week.

That will make next year’s festival Oct. 29 and 30.

An estimated 2,500 people attended the festival this year, Gary Perkins stated in a media release. He is manager of the sponsoring Fort Gibson Chamber of Commerce.

“We couldn't keep up making tasting kits,” Perkins said. “We were making them hot and heavy.”

Perkins’ financial report to the committee showed that, after expenses, the festival netted $6,507, a sufficient amount of seed money for the second annual festival, according to the media release. More awards are planned for next year's festival and, as profits grow, the proceeds may be applied toward scholarships and projects to benefit the town.

The success of the festival has created perhaps its biggest problem and that is where to park all the cars expected next year. Off-site parking with shuttle buses is one solution being considered.

Committee chairman Brad Clinkenbeard heard reports that as word spreads about the success of the festival, particularly among registered entrants in the Kansas City Barbecue Society cookoff category, the festival can expect up to three times as many entries next year.

The committee plans to petition the Kansas City Barbecue Society to declare next year's Fort Gibson festival a Society-sanctioned event. Elevating the cook-off to sanction status would allow the professional barbecue cooks a chance to become an entrant in the granddaddy of all barbecue cook-offs, the annual Jack Daniels cook-off in Tennessee.

The People's Choice category will continue as an open event. People's Choice is open to both back-yard barbecue chefs and those professionals who choose to enter and offer the public a taste of their “cue.”

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