Gettysburg Pa cancelled

[lagerboy]

Just got and email that the July 12th Gettysburg event has been cancelled due to lack of sponsorships.
The mid Atlantic area has lost a few events this year:
Middletown De, Frederick Md, Harrington De (Hogs & Hops) Inwood WV and a few in New York. I hope this doesn't become the norm.

 

[HawgNationBBQ]

Just got and email that the July 12th Gettysburg event has been cancelled due to lack of sponsorships.
The mid Atlantic area has lost a few events this year:
Middletown De, Frederick Md, Harrington De (Hogs & Hops) Inwood WV and a few in New York. I hope this doesn't become the norm.

Attention—KCBS—I’m sure there is someone of importance at the KCBS on this site. As mentioned in the initial post, this is the 4th event that has been cancelled in the mid-Atlantic this year and probably more that I'm not aware. I sent a suggestion to the KCBS Board that you need to start requiring an initial deposit of $1,000.00 or some amount for those that want to host an event. If the event is held as presented, they get their deposit back. If the event is cancelled, that $1,000.00 goes to a local charity in the cancelled events town. These folks should have sponsors, etc. in place before they submit an application. There needs to be some penalty for cancelling an event. That’s my rant.

 

[Slamdunkpro]

Attention—KCBS—I’m sure there is someone of importance at the KCBS on this site. As mentioned in the initial post, this is the 4th event that has been cancelled in the mid-Atlantic this year and probably more that I'm not aware. I sent a suggestion to the KCBS Board that you need to start requiring an initial deposit of $1,000.00 or some amount for those that want to host an event. If the event is held as presented, they get their deposit back. If the event is cancelled, that $1,000.00 goes to a local charity in the cancelled events town. These folks should have sponsors, etc. in place before they submit an application. There needs to be some penalty for cancelling an event. That’s my rant.

• Middletown was a last minute venue issue - I'm 90% certain they'll be back
• Frederick, I dunno what the issue was - I put their return at 40%
• Harrington's sponsors got swallowed by Triple Threat - another venue issue - 75% on their return

Gettysburg put themselves in a hole from the start and they were really flailing around this year. The venue was nice but the organization lacked, the prize money was poor compared to the entry fees and they wouldn't listen to anyone.

 

[toymaster]

Attention—KCBS—I’m sure there is someone of importance at the KCBS on this site. As mentioned in the initial post, this is the 4th event that has been cancelled in the mid-Atlantic this year and probably more that I'm not aware. I sent a suggestion to the KCBS Board that you need to start requiring an initial deposit of $1,000.00 or some amount for those that want to host an event. If the event is held as presented, they get their deposit back. If the event is cancelled, that $1,000.00 goes to a local charity in the cancelled events town. These folks should have sponsors, etc. in place before they submit an application. There needs to be some penalty for cancelling an event. That’s my rant.

Ditto. It takes me time to plan a schedule for which contests I want to do each year. I have had to change that schedule 4 times already and I'm starting to run out of contests (Williepallooza canned because Lowe's pulled out). There needs to be a penalty for this because when I can't make a contest, I forfeit my entry fee.:twisted::twisted: My .02

 

[Big Ugly's BBQ]

Well crap, guess I'm going the family reunion after all..........its in Emmitsburg, just down the road......

Not real upset about this one dying, last year was a goat fark, and we still haven't gotten all the bases for the cement trophies from the first year...

I count 7 cancellations this year....

G-burg
Harrington
Bluemont
Louisa (backyard only)
Frederick
Middletown
WVA - Pickin in the Panhandle

 

[K-Train]

This one did lack in organization, but was a pretty darn cool location.

 

[goodsmokebbq]

How about KCBS steer big corporate sponsors to existing smaller events in stead of using them to create competition. Sam's club series has hurt small independent contests. I was against it from the beginning.

We were in talks with a local Sams club for two years, and just on the verge of landing a sizable sponsorship, when they pulled the plug abruptly. No reason. Then two months later they launched the series. How many other local comps have lost essential sponsor dollars?

The board members did the our community wrong be agreeing to let the series happen. Im sure the fact that a few of the board members were hired to run the Sams club events (With decent pay) had nothing to do with the decision.

They easily could have pushed Sam's to sponsor existing events to help grow them.

Sorry this rant has been in me for a while, off soapbox...

 

[BaggerBill]

It was a bad idea to have it during bike week too

 

[Slamdunkpro]

Ditto. It takes me time to plan a schedule for which contests I want to do each year. I have had to change that schedule 4 times already and I'm starting to run out of contests (Williepallooza canned because Lowe's pulled out). There needs to be a penalty for this because when I can't make a contest, I forfeit my entry fee.:twisted::twisted: My .02

The last thing contests need is more KCBS fees.

It was a bad idea to have it during bike week too

I thought it was great - huge crowd - The weather bit them last year.

 

[jeffry1970]

How many corporate sponsors do you need to make it successful?

 

[mchar69]

Yeah, how much Sponsor $ do you need for a Gburg or Fredneck ?
Methinks planners need to have people excellent at tapping $.
I could see Lowe's and Costco at Frederick.
I don't know how this all works.

 

[jeffry1970]

I mean entry fees cover most expenses. If your raising money for something sponsors just equal more money.
I'm basing this off of my experience with queforthetroops

 

[Slamdunkpro]

How many corporate sponsors do you need to make it successful?

Good question - I wonder if it was a sponsor issue or cold feet.

Last year they returned 68% of the entry fees as prize money and they cleared the gate + vendor %. A rough guess says they cleared about $6,000 plus what ever sponsor monies they took in. That's a pretty thin margin considering tent rental, electric, property rental (if any) and advertizing.

The weather was poor which hurt their gate so I suspect they are a little gun shy over that plus as of yesterday they only had 22 teams signed up for this year.

 

[goodsmokebbq]

I mean entry fees cover most expenses.

I wish...

 

[arrowhead]

I mean entry fees cover most expenses. If your raising money for something sponsors just equal more money.
I'm basing this off of my experience with queforthetroops

that made me laugh out loud.

 

[Just Smokin' Around]

Yeah, how much Sponsor $ do you need for a Gburg or Fredneck ?
Methinks planners need to have people excellent at tapping $.
I could see Lowe's and Costco at Frederick.
I don't know how this all works.

I know the organizer of the Frederick event and it cost about $80k+ to put on that event. The fairgrounds rental alone is over $15k. That's before you rent generators, tents, stages, other equipment, hire bands (one popular band alone gets $6k), liquor license for beer garden, security, etc. Any organizer on this forum will tell you what it really costs to put on an event. It ain't cheap and it's a ton of work.

Entry fees rarely cover the cost of an event, not including prize money, unless it is only a BBQ contest. Add music and other stuff and costs go up in a hurry.

 

[jeffry1970]

that made me laugh out loud.

Why?
This is our fourth year doing queforthetroops and entry fees for competitors, vendors etc covers our fees. We have some sponsors but nothing major and we still give a good chunk of money to Liberty USO each year.

 

[chickenchoker]

we did Gettysburg the first 2 years. It was a little rough the 1st year..... even rougher last year with Electric issues and about half the teams from the first year.... I am not surprised as we didn't even consider this one again

 

[Chipper]

we did Gettysburg the first 2 years. It was a little rough the 1st year..... even rougher last year with Electric issues and about half the teams from the first year.... I am not surprised as we didn't even consider this one again

Same here.

 

[Jorge]

I'm reading a lot of generalizations about what is required to put on a contest. One thing I learned while on the board, and as chairman of the sanctioning committee is that situations vary GREATLY across the country! I know of contests that had to spend next to nothing to provide electricity and others where it was a major expense.

A $1k deposit may be no problem for some contests. I think a lot of people would be surprised at the resistance there would be from many organizers. Sanctioning fee, Rep fee/expenses, all add up. The most common complaint I heard was about the expenses related to putting a contest on. Even being refundable, I'd expect that extra $1k to be the final straw in some cases. I think this is one of those times where you need to be careful what you wish for.