Smoketoberfest cancellation
Hi there BBQ’rs!
It’s with great regret that I have to announce that Smoketoberfest 2012 has been cancelled!
As many of you know, we were having this year’s event at the Hagerstown Regional Airport in Hagerstown, MD. We were excited to be able to provide an exciting venue with a Fly-in, Vintage Air Show, Open cockpit plane rides, etc. After receiving prior approval from the FAA, TSA (let me tell you that was mess), and others, we moved forward with working through the logistics – power, water, liquor license, insurances, etc. – and advertising to make our event successful and be able to make a substantial contribution to Make-A-Wish.
Unfortunately, last Tuesday we received word from the FAA that our approval was being withdrawn due to security concerns at the airport on October 19-20th; the weekend of Smoketoberfest. After some hasty phone calls and emails, we appealed the FAA decision and after a week of going back and forth, we just received word that the FAA is sticking to their decision not to allow us to use the airport.
While they can’t officially tell us why or how it’s a security risk… in a nutshell, they have mentioned on several calls that we are very close to Camp David and while HRA is a small airport, it just added a new runway specifically to accommodate 747’s (one 747 in particular) and is a designated landing site for Air Force One. If you connect the dots, you can see what I mean and when that happens, the airport is shutdown on Saturday for 5 hours and Friday is dedicated to TSA, Secret Service, etc. emergency drills and inspections.
We have considered moving Smoketoberfest to another venue, but this close to the event, it’s not logistically possible to pickup and move and be remotely organized at all! As this is/was the 4th year I’ve organized Smoketoberfest, I decided I would rather cancel it than have it be half-assed.
All teams who are entered will be re-imbursed in full within the next 2 weeks. All judges will also be contacted.
We are hoping to have the event again next year in late May/Early June, but will have to look as to not impact other area comps that are going on then. We will have to come up with a new name too – any thoughts?
Thanks to all the Brethren who have supported us over the past few years and helped us raise over $40,000 for Make-A-Wish. We hope to see you next year when we reorganize!
