A blog reader who is on a BBQ team said he heard the following from a Memphis in May board member about what will happen to BBQ Fest next year:
- 150 teams @ $10,000 entry fee apiece. That’s down from about 250 teams this year.
- No patio porkers, so it looks like the little teams will be gone.
- Must have corporate sponsorship
Again, still a rumor, but it sounds like this came from a very reliable source. The good news for my team is that it looks like we’ll automatically qualify for 2009 because of our 3rd place shoulder finish. But it looks like 2008 will be the last party year for BBQ Fest. We have cool potential sponsors we’re talking to for next year, so maybe we’ll have the only party booth left and will have lots of cute girls in tube tops who want to hang out with us. I can’t blame MIM for wanting more revenue from the teams, but it kinda sucks that teams will be required to kiss corporate ass whether they want to or not.
If this turns out to be what happens, I will likely do BBQ Fest with my team, but skip all the other Memphis in May events in protest.
In other news… the car failed inspection again. When I paid Saturn $1000 to do all that work, they failed to notice a brake light was out. Just great. I’m not taking it all the way out there again. Anyone know a good Downtown garage where I can drop it off and get it fixed Thursday or Friday?
Downtowners for Obama update to come later today.