Thank you for taking the point on this Julie - SR was on my call list today, so that's one less thing I have to worry about.
This is a perfect case of how newbie organizers can make simple mistakes simply because of lack of experience that can doom a contest. We as cooks, judges and Reps should be actively offering help and advice when we see something that doesn't look right. As was the case here, it only took a direct conversation to fix a problem that could have derailed an event. Kudos to everyone who has posted in this thread for maintaining a reasonable discussion that lead to a happy resolution.
If only we could have done the same with the Carrollton contest, perhaps that train wreck could have been avoided.