The Jim Beam BBQ Classic, a Kentucky State Championship Competition, will be held in Springfield, Ky. Oct. 2-3, 2009 as part of the Kentucky Crossroads Harvest Festival.
The competition offers $8,000 in total cash prizes and awards.
The Springfield-Washington County Chamber of Commerce, which hosts the festival and oversees the cook-off, expects to draw a number of quality teams that compete regularly around the country.
“We think that being a state championship competition will make this attractive for teams who wish to go on to some of the national contests,” said Ralph Blandford, president of the Chamber of Commerce. “Also, thanks to Jim Beam, the amount of prize money we are able to offer is in line with other contests across the country.”
This marks the first year that the Springfield cook-off has been sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS), declared a Kentucky state championship and sponsored by Jim Beam.
“Springfield is where my father was born and lived until he came to work for the family business, said Fred Noe, Jim
Beam Bourbon Ambassador, Seventh Generation Distiller.
“We are thrilled to have Jim Beam on board as the title sponsor of our cook-off,” said Blandford. “Their support will allow us to take this event to the next level and we look for overall attendance at the festival to increase because of it.”
Teams will compete in four official KCBS categories: ribs, chicken, shoulder and brisket.Two optional categories are chili and dessert with the latter requiring some amount of Jim Beam to be present in the recipe.Cooks applications can be found at www.kyharvestfestival.com or by calling 859-336-3810, x1.
The Kentucky Crossroads Harvest Festival is held the first weekend in October and hosted by the Springfield-Washington County Chamber of Commerce.The event also features a 5K Run, Battle of the Bands, parade, carnival, classic car show, Harvest Queen Pageant, live entertainment, corn hole championship, vendors and much more.
