Brooksville Barbecue Contest Canceled

There won't be any blazin' butts in Brooksville this year.

The third annual Blazin' Butts-n-Brisket Barbecue contest, slated for Oct. 18 in Tom Varn Park, has been canceled due to a lack of contestants, Brooksville Parks and Recreation Director Mike Walker said Wednesday.

Organizers made the decision this week after receiving just 11 confirmed entries, plus another two entrance forms that are supposedly on the way, Walker said.

Still, even 13 contestants is just half of the 26 who came last year and not enough to bring in enough funds to dole out prize money, Walker said.

"It's just something we had to do," Walker said. "It's disappointing, because it was a great event for the community."

The contest was to cap off a seven-day run of events for Brooksville's Founders Week that begins this Saturday.

The extra revenue goes to Friends of the Children, a fund that helps the city's recreation department pay for projects for youngsters. Walker said the barbecue competition brought in a total of $1,100 in its first two years.

Not a lot of money, Walker admitted, but the event seemed to be growing and certainly brought visitors into Brooksville. The city had worked hard to get the contest sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbecue Society, making it a qualifier for national competitions and bringing in teams from throughout Florida and the Southeast.

High gas prices and a sputtering economy are almost certainly to blame, said Walker, who shows cattle with his family but hasn't been to one contest this year because of fuel costs.

Rob "Rub" Bagby, president of the Florida Barbecue Association and the winner of last year's Brooksville contest, called the news disappointing.

Bagby has a couple of other theories about the low number of entrants, and said it "definitely had nothing to do with the contest."

"We had nothing but great reviews," Bagby said. "I expected it to be bigger this year."

However, there was another Kansas City Barbecue Society-sanctioned event slated to take place the same weekend in Tampa that may have drawn some contestants.

Ironically, however, organizers of the Rock, Rib and Ride Festival had to cancel its barbecue contest because it got only five contestants, said Bill Hart, chairman of the contest.

Bagby said the fall is a busy time for barbecue competitors, with some eight contests between the end of September and Thanksgiving.

With gas hovering near $4 and entrance fees that climb past $200 in most cases, many competitors are likely prioritizing and going to fewer contests, Bagby said.

Walker said the city hasn't ruled out trying to revive the contest for next year.