The BBQ Rib Throwdown 2023
As the event neared, we started to be a little concerned that we didn’t have enough competitors to feed a significant group of attendees. Then again, we were likewise concerned about not having enough attendees!
This is the first event I tried using EventBrite to sell tickets. I was frankly disappointed by the performance of the EventBrite publicity of the event. Seems that’s “extra” if you want to publicize your event – they charged us so much that the first $50 of our sales went directly to them. Then, they charged our attendees almost $2.50 on top of each ticket. That took a basic entry ticket to the event from $5 to nearly $7.50! That had to have had an impact on people buying tickets to the Throwdown.
We pressed on with the event. We sent more marketing emails to our groups, posted the event across Facebook, and asked for word-of-mouth promotion from members.
The event came together better than I could have imagined. At the end of the event, we had served all the ribs that were cooked. We sold enough beer to float a Navy vessel. And everywhere we looked there were happy, bbq-sauce-smeared smiles that clearly enjoyed eating the food as much as the competitors enjoyed making it.
We had three teams competing – our Potentate was among them. The Rub-a-Doves team, led by Jordan Dove and his family. Our final competitor was led by Alyce Wheeler and her family.
While I did not compete, I smoked several racks to contribute to the overall party.
Now, the judging was done by two Past Grand Masters and the sitting Grand Master of Nevada. The submissions were anonymized as well. And, yet the Potentate’s team took first place! Alyce’s team took 2nd, and the Rub-A-Doves took 3rd.
Each team will receive a cash prize.
This event turned out a success. With some lessons learned, we hope to bring the event back some time soon and do it bigger and better.