Roll Call. Inside 30 days. 6th Annual U.P. Hog Wild - Kingsford Michigan - July 16th and 17th

[Ron_L]

Sheboygan? isnt that sorta out of the way?

OK, Mr. Picky Pants... We stopped for gas at the Sheboygan exit off of I-43, not the actual town of Sheboygan. :becky:

 

[Coz]

OK, Mr. Picky Pants... We stopped for gas at the Sheboygan exit off of I-43, not the actual town of Sheboygan. :becky:

I thought maybe you were taking the scenic route :roll: I was listening to a couple of the guys talking about how their GPS routed them into the event this weekend and thought maybe you had one of those. One of my friends was coming over for the first time a few weeks ago and his GPS sent him 30 + miles out of the way. I am thinking on getting one but figure maybe I am better off with out?

 

[Trainwreck]

Sounds like you guys had better weather then last year. Sorry I missed it. Congrats to all that heard their names called.

 

[Stoke&Smoke]

All in all, this was a GREAT contest!I think the que contest organizers did an absolutely stupendous job. We, like Ron, had a few mechanical issues on the way. Actually, ours happened on the way to Lowell the weekend before. Popped a wheel bearing grease cap, and we were spreading grease all over I94. Figured it out and found a store that sold the bearings, caps, grease, etc. and repacked the bearings in their parking lot. On the road again in an hour or so, but not much fun! Was very glad to hear RonL and Parsley lady made it, as we'd heard they were waylaid around Milwaukee, a VERY long way from Kingsford!

We were fortunate enough to spend Sunday afternoon through Thursday morning with friends in Escanaba, and also to score the winning pork butts from Viau (pronounced View) market in downtown Escanaba. These folks have a great little butcher shop, and, to fulfill my order of 2 8-9 lb butts, they gave me a pair, total weight 21.5 lb's. One about 12.5, the other about 9:thumb:

Kingsford is where we finally took our first 1st place call (for pork), and by about a 2.5 point margin!!!:becky: We also scored 6th place brisket in a ridiculously tight race, I think there were 3 ties between 1 and 10th place!

I had only 1 issue. That was with the security OUTSIDE the comp portion, pertaining to the rest of the general public.

We had two "alternate" team members arrive (we had red wristbands id-ing them as team members, who had to dump out thier beverages (all non-alcoholic) when entering the grounds.

When we were walking to the awards ceremony, a particularly zealous female "security person" informed us that we couldn't bring our beverages (beer in cozies) onto the field. Initially, they weren't even allowing red cups, but I believe Chris straightened that out. OK, fine, we took them back outside, and on coming back in were told Ember, our dog (see the logo) would also not be allowed on the field. (Yet Barnilia Fife made no mention of the dog the first time when she sent us back for the beverages):mad2: I suppose rules are rules, but this woman was downright rude and dismissive, and I doubt many folks have seen either my wife or I really ticked off, ever, until she started farking with us! Now I know how bill felt when Uncle Farker wanted to change up dinner!

One competitors mother was told she could not enter with her unopened bottle of iced tea:tsk: WTF?

Again, please don't misunderstand. I think John and Chris, and all their helpers did an absolutely GREAT job. And we definitely plan on coming back. But, when a team spends $200.00 or more to get into the contest, then the extra for meat, gas, etc...I think the red team member bracelet should have bought us a little slack. And I don't recall any mention of either those restrictions being mentioned in the team packets.

I was tempted to sit on the edge of the fence outside the infield area, with my beer AND my dog, and take my time getting to the stage if I heard our name called, and I had my chair and cooler ready to do so... but Chris and his calmer head prevailed, we left our beer behind but were allowed to take our mascot onto the field, and I spent 10 bucks on beer tickets to benefit thier cause! (and our thirst!)

Time for a break, we'll be out next at Milwaukee!

 

[Boss Hog Wild]

THANK YOU for letting me know about your issues. As an organizer, I can never get enough feedback, even if it does not thrill me to hear it. Without the knowledge, I have no idea on where we need to make changes or address things. And I am sorry that you had the problems you had. We work very hard to make our event as comp friendly as we can. We know how far many of you travel, and we know we have to be like AVIS... trying harder. A couple of notes if i may.

I wish I could hold an event like PoorQue down in Montello.... just teams... beautiful park.... no big rules or concerns..... but we don't have that luxury. We are a charity on a mission to raise money for children with disabilities. In all honesty, local teams, and the general public make us write more rules than I care to think about in order to please the city, the state liquor control commission, law enforcement, our attorneys...etc...

The red bands you had did not designate you as a team..... just a non-general admission guest. The front gate allows nothing to come in.... we have no idea what it might be.... and the rules on us mandate no outside alcohol coming into the park.... Matter of fact, there are no carry-ins, no coolers, no skateboards, no bikes, no food, no pets... and lord knows what else they make me keep out. The attorneys feel that it is the only way to enforce the liabilities we face given the talents of most of our guests. Teams, staff, and vendors are the only ones allowed to use the BACK gate and park within the grounds. Once again a liquor control issue. And a lack of parking spaces. We don't have many problems with our teams, except for the occasional local team which lets things get out of hand, or tries to sneak 40 people in without paying. The general public is an entirely different issue. If they can find a way to do it.... they will. And they do.

Security tries to enforce rules for the safety of all, and for the protection of the event and our ability to continue. In our quiet little town, we had 36 security personel on duty while the event was open to the public. Some were armend. In addition there were 6 undercover officers in the park and regular patrols by uniformed officers. Everyone's safety and well being is our first concern. And drinking, which is an unfortunate problem in this area, being done by the wrong people in the wrong place, will be the fastest way for us to loose our ability to continue this event.

Thank you again for your feedback. I need to find some way to communicate to both staff and cooking teams ... and a way for both to have a better understanding of how things need to work in the comp area...... and in the general public grounds.

Thank you to all of our teams. And please know that I always welcome any and all constructive criticism of UP Hog Wild. Doing this only once a year creates a very slow and long learning curve. Help is always welcomed.

 

[Stoke&Smoke]

John, I hope you didn't take what I said as a criticism of anything you, Chris, or the rest of your staff did. It was, in my opinion, just a disconnect between the overall event staff, and that of the contest. And it's my mistake, I thought that the red wrist bands were to differentiate team members from the general public.

The staff was great, starting Thursday afternoon, Pasty's were awesome Saturday morning, wish he'd had freezer space to bring some more home!

I would be willing to admit emotions got the better of us just before the awards.

I think what really did it was that the lady in question chose not to lay all the rules out at once. She stopped us for beer, while we were walking in with a can of beer each and the dog in tow. OK, fine...we took the beer back to a fellow teams site, and on our return, she then said we couldn't bring the pup, instead of mentioning that previously. I was prepared at that point to sit outside the fence, with my dog and my beer, and listen from a distance, but thankfully Chris intervened and found a "happy medium". Another shining example of your folks going the extra mile to keep cooks happy! I guess bottom line is there are ways to treat folks, and ways not to. That one particular security person, in our opinion, demonstrated how not to, and we weren't the only team to butt heads with her. But we thought everyone else in the place was absolutely fantastic!

Hopefully, next year (or maybe even later this year?:icon_shy) we'll have a small upgrade in a hard sided camper instead of the pop-up, and will be able to, sadly, leave Ember behind for the awards. Unfortunately, she's smart enough with the trailer we now use to open even a locked door, and we were afraid of leaving her alone for fear she might get out and get lost.

 

[Boss Hog Wild]

No issues taken my friend. Just trying to explain some of the concerns you raised. BBQ people are never our problem. It's the public. And one of our biggest problems is the public going up to teams, getting alcohol, and then wandering around the park with it. My Liquor license says that's a no no. I have to laugh... I learned later that the lady you ran into owns a .... Gentleman's Club.... I think she is accustomed to dealing with .... "determined" clientel. WE appreciate your kind words, and am glad to hear that you had a good time as our guest. Hopefully everyone else did as well. Hope to see you along the bbq trail...

 

[Ford]

I learned later that the lady you ran into owns a .... Gentleman's Club.... I think she is accustomed to dealing with .... "determined" clientel.

John. I am extremely disappointed. There was no info on any extra entertainment venues iin the area. Remember I'm a widower now so it's OK.:thumb:

 

[Boss Hog Wild]

So here is what I am going to explain to Daisy.... A group of us guys have to go out and scout the local "entertainment" locations so that we can make a posting for our bbq friends....... I guess I would need to include golf courses as well..... I wonder how many nights we can drag that project out to.....?

 

[Coz]

I suppose I should come up to help with the entertainment scouting...

 

[Boss Hog Wild]

Oh THAT would be interesting.............

 

[Coz]

Non Drinker for a driver...