Running an Outdoor Cooking Contest - Looking for Suggestions

I'll be overseeing a Chicago neighborhood "cooking contest" early this Summer. I'm looking for any advice as to how to best run the one day event. We have ideas but none of them are concrete yet, and I thought I'd run it up the pole here on LTH because you guys usually have great suggestions.

I can't, at this time, be specific, and tell you what city event this will be held at. But it's a neighborhood festival that is rather new.

First our goals:

1. Fun.
2. Create a sense of community involvement at a neighborhood festival, having the areas backyard cooks show up.
3. Get people to want to do it again the following year.
4. Keep it simple.

Some info:

It's a one day event. We'll have enough space for 8-10 contestants, each getting about 6 foot of parking lot space. No water is supplied, no electricity, contestants will need to bring their own Ez-Up's, table and chairs. It will be for basically bragging rights, no cash prize. Trophies would be the extent of the bling. We're wanting to have this a judged contest most likely with the judges being people who work in the food industry in our neighborhood.

We can name this anything we want to.

We will not be allowed to feed "the public", who attend the event, in any way, due to health codes.

We are not looking for contestants who are from very far out of our neighborhood, or anyone who is a professional chef, or anyone else who is a sponsored outdoor cook to sign up. Yeah, someone's brother who works for Smoque could show up, but his "team" should be lead by a local neighbor who would accept the trophy if they did win. We essentially would like contestants to be from nearby and just be regular joe's.

So, what I'm wondering is if we should make this a BBQ (low and slow cooking methods) only, or if we should also allow for gas grills to enter too?

I'm finding some online resources helpful for rules/regulations, but if anyone else has ever done this before I'd like to hear from you.

A topic that no one at all, on LTH, has anything whatsoever to chime in on??

this is weird.

A topic that no one at all, on LTH, has anything whatsoever to chime in on??

this is weird.

You already seemingly have all the rules in place already. The only concrete thing you seem to be asking is if you should allow gas grills in addition to charcoal, and that is up to you, obviously. What else are you asking about?

Doesn't sound like much fun. Why would anyone attend if they can't sample the food?

sundevilpeg wrote:[ What else are you asking about?

If we have 8 contestants, how many judges should I get?

Should the meats be chicken, pork, and beef? Add "fish" too?

Is there a category I could add that could be something oddball that would add interest?

How should awards be given? best chick/pork/beef, and then best of show an "overall winner"?

JasonM wrote:Doesn't sound like much fun. Why would anyone attend if they can't sample the food?

This contest is an event during a huge festival. This festival has event food vendors, many of them, for the crowds to get fed. The cooking contest isn't what will draw people to the festival.

Our contest is about featuring the neighborhood's best backyard cooks, to let them "show off". If that makes sense? Our contest is one of many things that will going on during the festival. Essentially a sideshow.

2 cents:

I'd do an 'Iron Chef' type challenge--have a secret ingredient that is revealed, say, 12 hours before cooking begins. Perhaps you could get somebody to donate the ingredient for publicity purposes.

We finalized the details and I just made a separate LTH post.

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=34890