The cooks had a meeting on Saturday, January 2 to organize events for the spring leading up to the main event in May. Here’s the latest news about the team.

Next weekend the cook team will host three certified BBQ judges in a private event. They will prepare our championship shoulder for judges Frank Chin, Tom Conlee, and Chuck Averwater. It will be a simulation of BBQ Fest, with blind boxes, presentation, everything we would do for the actual BBQ Fest judges in May. Frank Chin and his team will give us feedback on what we’re doing right and what we need to do to improve. These guys are experienced judges, they have trained other judges, and are involved in Memphis Barbecue Network. Their comments should be most valuable.

The weekend of Saturday, April 1-2, the team will compete in the Atoka BBQ Fest at Nancy Lee Park in Atoka, TN. We are determined to get a couple of regionals under our belt before we return to Tom Lee Park, and this looked like a good one.

On April 22 and 23, we will be a part of the BBQ competition at Southaven Springfest in Snowden Grove Park in Southaven, MS. This is a festival that has been around for many years and the Moody Ques are excited to get to compete in it. With only a few weeks before BBQ Fest, this should be an excellent final tune-up for the cooks.

We plan to have a team meet & greet Saturday, February 13. The location is yet to be determined, so stay tuned for updates.

If any of you know a company that would be interested in sponsoring a BBQ team, please let us know at moodyques@gmail.com. We have a lot we can do for a presenting sponsor who would like to fund us in the $10K range. We are currently putting together a sponsorship packet that we can get out to prospective sponsors as early as this week.

The dues for this year will be $350 individual/$500 couple. You must be a legitimate, established real-life couple to join at the couple rate.

We will have more information on the meet & greet in the coming weeks. 2016 is going to be a good year for the Moody Ques!