Fund-raiser calls on all grillers

If you are the master of your backyard grill, the Columbia County Recreation Department Advisory Board's Veteran's Day fund-raiser may be right up your alley.

The board is inviting backyard grillers and sanctioned Memphis in May barbecue cooking teams to grill up their best for the Veteran's Day Bar-B-Que Cook-Off on Nov. 16, at the Merchants Association of Columbia County Fairgrounds.

The event will feature the American Veteran's Traveling Tribute Wall, a barbecue cook-off in two classes - Memphis in May sanctioned teams and backyard barbecue grillers - arts and crafts vendors, children's rides and games and live entertainment.

"It is going to be interesting to mesh these things together. They all have different personalities," said Bobby Waters, a board chairman and an event organizer.

The American Veteran's Traveling Tribute Wall will be available for public viewing 24 hours a day at no charge Nov. 14-17, at the fairgrounds. Veteran's Day is actually Nov. 11. For this observance, the focus will be on Vietnam War veterans.

"The main focus and the whole focus is on the Veteran's Day celebration," Waters said.

Volunteers will be needed to assist wall visitors. Those interested in volunteering can call Barbara Daniel at (706) 860-2476 or Jackie Hoyt at (706) 860-4791.

For the cook-off, professional grillers will be competing for large cash prizes in accordance with Memphis of May regulations in whole hog, shoulder and rib categories. Backyard grillers will be competing against each other in back and rib classes for trophies. Memphis in May is one of the more well-know, national barbecue competitions.

Sanctioned teams will be traveling from all over the southeast to cook Friday night for the blind, on-site judging by sanctioned judges Saturday afternoon.

"This is serious business to these guys," said Rick Crawford, a board member and event chairman.

For more information on joining either competition, call Waters at (706) 860-2952.

Arts, crafts and food vendors will be selling their wares from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday as Shiloh, a local band, plays from 2 to 4 p.m.

The fund-raiser will hopefully replace the ones that take place each sports' season.

"We do not want to nickel and dime parents each season," Crawford said.

For more information, call Crawford at (706) 860-7850.