Just a little more detail. I showed up at about 11:30, and used the rest room first thing. On my way out of the store, I stopped to buy a bag of ice like I do at every competition. I am a Sam's Club member, but didn't have my card, and when I asked for the ice at the customer service desk, I was prompted for it. I told them that I didn't have it on me, but that last year we were allowed to buy ice without a membership card, was it the same this year? She started to call and speak to a manager, but I told her I'd be glad to give her my ID and get a temporary card. She told me it was okay, because she needed to know how to handle that the the rest of the day and called and spoke to two managers, who basically told her no, and then Troy walked by and the CSR asked him to get involved, and he said "If you don't have a membership card, you can't buy ice. One of the goals of this series is to get people to join Sam's Club." The GM was standing right there and did not refute that. I got my temporary card and bought my ice. Again, I'm not really trying to complain, but rather to inform. If they decided to allow non-members to buy ice, that's great news because it's what I would expect from any contest, and people may have little to worry about on this front the rest of the year.
If a membership is required though, that should be included in the eMail IMNSHO, and after about 45 similar events in 18 months, I would think this one would have come up before, but what do I know. I just write code and cook meat.
dmp