Wow! Almost 22K now, I got mine in Oct 2003 at the Royal. 17K in 4 years...I would say our "Hobbie" is taking off with regards to Judging. Wonder how many more teams there are in that 4 year period. I have no idea how many there were in 2003.
I know when I started competing in the Spring of 2003 in CA., a big event was 15 teams. Now they tell me in 2000-2002 they had 25-35 teams that would compete, but they must have been scared when I started! :wink: But for the 1st 2 years I competed, I was never able to find an event in CA that hit 20. Then Modesto 2004 had 25 teams and it seems like we have taken off from there...been getting more teams and thank goodness many more contest in CA. I think 12 this year! Lets see...Autry, Modesto, Victorville, San Jose, Thousand Oaks, Fairfield, Imperial Beach, Clovis and Veijas are all KCBS. We have Stagecoach, Silent Valley and maybe one more event in November that will be IBCA, so we are steeping up in the BBQ landscape! 13 if you throw in Boulder City, NV which is only 4 hours from LA.