The things that make a contest great - Cooks packages

Sauces
Small packages of band aids
Tylenol/Advil
Can koozies
Neoprene wine bottle insulator
Coupons for local businesses

One organizer who operates a farm that includes beekeeping included a jar of honey. Good stuff!

Grand Rapids had notta.

Not usually important to us at all, unless there were some beer in it.

not a huge fan of the goodie bags..got some nice stuff at peoria but personally i would rather they put that expense toward the comp itself and cut a cook's cost somewhere like price of electric, etc

I wish all contest would realize that BBQ is usually a "team" event and provide t-shirts for everyone as well as an extra pin. The other stuff is nice - we have insulated tumblers from Mobile and a travel mug from Ft. Rucker, coozies, aprons (always the little shorties - if I wear an apron its a full length one - I save them and let assistants at catering gigs use them). A lot of the stuff is from sponsors so it doesn't cost the event much and gives the sponsors a chance to get their logo on something the teams have on site. I use the "book bags" to haul my stuff around so I appreciate the bags. Occassionally we get a cap (never two) and since I am a cap wearer I'll use them.

I notice when there isn't a goodie bag - it usually indicates a cheap event. That doesn't mean it won't be a good event - but after paying hundreds of $$$ to get there I appreciate "something" - heck the goodie bag is usually all we take away from an event - except bills!

Not too many contests up here have goodie bags. Guitarbeque gives out T-shirts, last year I think it was 2 a team.

When we did Grillin on the Bay, we gave out this type of stuff in the bags. There were more itmes, these are just things that were left over. There were two t-shirts in each bag. The St. Mark shirt you see and an I Love NY shirt you don't. I would say the retail value of each bag easily exceeded the entry fee for the contest.



Thanks to all the brothers who donated spices, rubs and sauces for the bags.

Robert,
They were great. Needless to say, Greg loves his St Marks shirt. I do agree with the person that said one person does not a team make. A couple of my worst experiences were at a major contest where the chief cook announced they would give all the stuff to their kids because they did not want it. The assistant cooks also drove 20 hours to get there and got squat...

That chief cook sounds like a schmuck.

But wouldn't It get pretty expensive for the organizers to give out enough shirts, aprons, hats etc to cover everyone on the teams. Some teams are 2 people others 10. And some will "pad" the the numbers just so that their wife/kids get shirts or whatever.

I probably came across as overly harsh, not intentional. I agree the sponsors can't be expected to take care of everyone. But I don't think an occasional bottle of sauce or a pin to the assistant cooks will kill anyone...at that particular contest, btw, there were hats and other trinkets for everyone but the chief cooks had to request them.

I don't think you came off as harsh, but hopefull the chief cook will take care of his/her team. I can understand wanting to give stuff to your kids, but since the team are the actual participants in the contest, they should have first dibs. IMO anyway.