In 2009, my daughter's high school softball team was needing fundraising ideas in order to make a trip to Florida to play ball during Spring break. Having cooked BBQ as a hobby for a couple of years, I suggested that we sell pork butts, pulled pork plate lunches, and BBQ by the pound as a fundraiser. With the help of a few friends, and a couple of very large borrowed cookers, this was by far the b
est fundraising event that our booster club had held to this point. After my daughter graduated from high school, I mostly cooked for family and special occasions, until September, 2013. My wife mentioned to me one evening that she had seen a new competition category added to Paducah's BBQ on the River event, where we could prepare BBQ at home, and have it judged as part of the "In your own back yard" contest. I thought it would be fun, so we went to BBQ and More in Paducah the following day to register and pick up our turn-in box. After coming in 2nd place in this first competition, I was hooked!
