Photo courtesy of Lance Shores, city of Hoover.
The 2018 Pig Iron BBQ Challenge raised $94,000 for Children’s Harbor.
The 23rd annual Pig Iron BBQ Challenge will be at the Hoover RV Park on Friday, Oct. 25, from 5-8 p.m.
Teams will compete to see who can cook the best ribs, Boston butts and barbecue sauce and who can decorate their tent the best — all the while raising money for Children’s Harbor, a nonprofit that serves the needs of families of long-term seriously ill children.
With an average of 28 teams competing, this year’s organizers hope to attract 35 to 40 teams, said Erin Slaughter, director of events and community engagement for Children’s Harbor.
Teams pay $1,500 to participate and must provide 300 barbecue samples for the public. Each team will get 100 wristbands to distribute as they choose and an opportunity to purchase more wristbands for $5 each.
The admission fee for the public is $20 and includes barbecue samples from participating teams. New this year will be a beer tent, but alcoholic beverage purchases are separate from the admission fee, Slaughter said.
Last year, there were about 350 tickets sold to the public and 6,000 wristbands given out to participating teams, she said. It’s hard to measure exact attendance, but Slaughter estimated last year’s attendance at about 5,500 people.
The 2018 Pig Iron BBQ Challenge raised about $94,000, and organizers hope to top that amount this year.
