KCBS Membership -> contests

1. No

2. Sometimes contests do offer reduced entry for KCBS members. Although not many do where I am from. When you become a judge I believe your fee includes a one year membership. Becoming a member entitles you to certain discounts negotiated by the KCBS. It also helps KCBS to function and assure contest performance under its sanctioning. I think it is required for a team to compete in the TOY as well but not definite.

If I expect to benefit from a system, I should do what I can to support that system. For me, that means being a KCBS member, participating and offering feedback.

Lake Dogs said:

That, and I'm about magazine/newspaper'd out too. We get MULTIPLE copies of the damned Terlingua Trails monthly. They go immediately to the bottom of the hampster
cage or to the garbage can. It would be nice to save a few cubic feet of county dump
space...

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Simple - cancel one of the subscriptions and put it towards KCBS membership. :wink: At least you get something other than hampster cage liner for your $35.

Lake Dogs said:

Diva, Agreed. However, being a member of MIM, MBA, GBA, CASI and ICBS, I'm honestly just about membership'd out... As we'll probably only participate in 3, maybe
4 KCBS cookoffs, it would be nice to save a dollar or two...

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I can tell you that my KCBS membership has paid for itself, simply by taking advantage of the hotel discount available from Choice Hotels. If you spend a couple of nights in any of their hotels over the course of a year your membership more than pays for itself.

I don't think you'd need to use the hotel discount at a barbeque competition in order to take advantage of that benefit of membership. You might use it in a situation where you need to fly somewhere and need a hotel at that location.

I think, however, that the most important benefit of membership is the ability to vote in the Board of Director elections. I enjoy being able to help choose the people that lead this organization.

Another advantage to being a member is the ability to bi%$h about the organization and try to do something in support of your views or desires. If you're not a member, don't comment on rules, organization, methodology, etc.

It's always best to be part of the solution instead of part of the problem.

I actually enjoy my CASI paper as well as my Bull Sheet and don't even own a hamster.

Lake Dogs said:

I've been reading but cannot find this addressed anywhere, so I pose
the questions to you guys:

1. Do you have to be a member of KCBS to participate in a cookoff?

2. If not, when/why do you need to be a member of KCBS?



Sorry for such simple questions.

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1. No.

2. When you find the answer to that let me know.

Lake Dogs said:

KCBS is really just getting a foothold here in Georgia. We (the state) seem to be an open battlefield for FBA, the newly formed GBA, KCBS, and we're pretty solid in our MIM/MBA cookoffs.

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I'm going to have to disagree with you there. While it is true that MIM has the longest history in our state, KCBS has had a state championship in Dillard for 13 years. The Cartersville and Covington shows are both over 5 years old, and contests like Canton, Columbus, Young Harris, Waynesboro and Kennesaw are going strong.

GBA is in their first year of real sanctioning and the verdict is still out as to whether or not they make it long term. FBA is the only real contender right now for KCBS, but FBA has not been very successful sanctioning contests in the northern half of the state.

I think it would be fair to say that the state of Georgia is functionally TWO different states: the southern half where FBA, MBN and GBA sanction nearly all the BBQ contests and the northern half where KCBS rules.

When you draw a circle around your house it becomes clear why the regions are divided as they are. It's much easier for a cook team in south Georgia to drive to events in north Florida or south Alabama than it is to go above Atlanta, just as teams up here tend to go to north Alabama or middle Tennessee if they have that choice.

As for my own team, we keep saying that we want to try an FBA or MBN contest, but the ones that are closest to us always seem to fall on the same weekend as a KCBS show we cook that is closer. Still, I am a member of both KCBS and FBA because I believe that the small cost of membership is worth it to promote competition barbecue, and I enjoy reading the Bullsheet and National Barbecue News each month.

I wish I was doing Oconee. Unfortunately it falls on the same date as a local chili contest that I agreed to act as cook coordinator for. However, my teammate Warren should be there, cooking with Big Jim's Bareknuckles team. Just look for the bald guy next to the human mountain!

If you've cooked a GBA show, I'd like to talk to you about it. I love the idea of a state organization, but the GBA seems to have been a little flaky on start-up and I'm having a hard time getting my head around their meat categories.

-gf

Gowan Fenley
Johnny Mitchell's Smokehouse
Euharlee, GA