Organizing new comp in Ohio, need your help

Hey Guys!

I just got done talking to a friend of mine and we are going to be organizing a comp here in Chillicothe Ohio on a fruit farm with a MAJORLY HUGE orchard. They grow just about any type of fruit you can think of and the farm has basically been in the family since 1890. They have a retail store front for their fruit, cider and other "farmers market type" products at the site.

I want to organize this with the enjoyment of the cookers in mind and want to do the best job possible, so I will need all the help I can get.

I am posting pics of the venue and a link to the website for the venue as well.

The first thing I will need is a name for this comp.

"Smoke in the Orchard" came to mind but I know you guys can come up with something better than that.:-D

We are looking at mabey late May or early June for a date. Not set yet.

I welcome any and all comments, concerns and thoughts about the venue or things you would like to see in a comp.

We will have water and electric service from the white buildings that you see in the pics. Electric will be on 3 different outlets with each having a 20 amp breaker. Water will be through a hose running from the building. The building is where the press their own cider. They already have Porta Potties as you can see in the pics. The farm is about a mile or so south of Chillicothe on a well marked state highway. Shopping (Walmart,Krogers and most anything you would need) is roughly 3-4 miles away and not too hard to find. There are 3 or 4 decent hotels within 3-4 miles too. Ash, grease, gray water and trash disposal is not a problem. Walk in freezer to store ice for the cookers. LOTS of room to spread out.

Anyways, here are the pics and a link to the Hirsch Fruit Farm.

motoeric said:

Sounds like you have a lovely space to hold the event and are off to a great start with planning. If you want to send me an email I'll reply with the expense outline I'm working on.

Good luck!


Eric
saberinc@optonline.net

Click to expand...

E-mail sent!!

Thanks Eric!!:-D

White Dog BBQ said:

Looks like a beautiful site with lots of room!

Only things I can think of:

1) 3 20 amp circuits is not going to cut it. I imagine you may need to bring in a generator to satisfy the electricity demand.

2) You'll need more water than you can supply with one hose. Not sure what to tell you there (but there has to be a way to solve that).

3) You'll definitely want more porta potties.

Looks like a great venue, though!

Click to expand...

Plan B is a generator w/ distribution box and a water buffalo from the local National Guard Unit.

Anyone else have any thoughts on how much electric will be required?

We can get more porta potties but how many do you really need? They already have 3. In Nelsonville this past week end they only had 2 and that seemed sufficient for 17 teams, but I could be wrong about that.

Rolling Smoke said:

Neil,
The first thing you need to do is determine how many teams you can accommodate based on the ground available. Even if you have the room for 100 teams, you might not want to take on that big of a task for the first year. Be fair to yourself and also to the teams by setting a cap on how many teams you will be able to handle the first year. Once you have determined the maximum number of teams that will be at the event, the water, electric and toilet requirements will fall into place. You are right about the ratio of toilets to teams in Nelsonville and if you'll remember, that's about the same ratio we had in Dayton.

Knowing the maximum number of teams that you will host will also help answer the manpower requirement question that you ask me the other day.

Getting ready to leave for Lynchburg so I'll talk to you next week.

Click to expand...

Thanks Jim,
I am thinking about having a cap of mabey 25 teams for the first year so that it doesn't become unmanageable but I will need to confer with my buddy who is a co-owner of the venue.

What was your cap Jim? 25 if my memory serves me correctly?

Like we talked about Jim, we have decided to go non-sanctioned the 1st year and go for sanctioning the 2nd.

Have a safe trip to the Jack and above all else, have fun!!:-D

Sledneck said:

Put the teams on the flat terrain above not the hilly part where the tent is

Click to expand...

I thought about that. The only problem with it is that the water and electric from the white buildings are not going to be accessable in the "flat" area where the red wagon is setting.

The picture is somewhat deceptive. The "hilly" area is pretty flat till you get up to the area where the tent is. Well, at least flat enough that an individual comp site wouldn't have much of a slope at all.

Anybody come up with anything for the name yet?

Sledneck said:

I was on a slope at and we are talking a very small slope at bluesaque in east hartford ct and it i wasnt to pleased. Also think about where the judges tent will be and what sort of obstacles and terrain the teams have to walk turn in boxes through. You might have to get diferent electric supply anyway and water can travel far so the flat spot looks a lot nicer. Keep in mind access of trucks trailer etc getting in and out as well

Click to expand...

Good info.

Can you tell me why you didn't like the small amount of slope? Just trying to figure this all out.

Truck and trailer access is not a problem. If you look in the pic you can see a large BBQ vending trailer that he was able to get in there with no problem.

Spydermike72 said:

Hey ZBQ, looks like a really nice site, keep me updated, I may have to come down to enemy territory for that one!!

I will keep thinking of a name!!

Click to expand...

Be glad to have you Mike!!

I have a soft spot for you "football challenged" people "up north"! You just don't know any better! :lol:

Going to send you a PM.