American Royal leaders propose tearing down Kemper

[Highlander]

In a perfect world, this event would have been moved to the acres of vacated parking lots and malls at 87th and I435 and Cerner would have built somewhere it would have done some good. Just fence that area off 51 weeks per year and make the BBQ event the Midwestern version of Octoberfest.

[flyingember]

KC's version of Octoberfest should be a largely private event dominated by a huge number of RVs? That really doesn't make much sense.

[rxlexi]

I'm actually kind of shocked and very disappointed. I would have preferred to see Kemper torn down and replaced with a new Royal facility, despite the AR proving itself to be a whiny and frustrating organization. Anything to keep this event in the Bottoms and (hopefully) continue to grow and improve it. It's one of our very few truly unique regional events/cultural exports on a (somewhat) national scale.

The BBQ and Bottoms were so perfect for each other, the smoke wafting up the bluffs, the grimy dirt parking lots and haunted houses packing people in at the same time, etc. Not pleased, though in some small way it's to see more use out of the parking lot infrastructure at TSC.

[pash]

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[beautyfromashes]

The AR BBQ event will be back in the core within 5 years. Arrowhead gives the space for a larger event, but there is no history or charm in a sea of asphalt.

[aknowledgeableperson]

But the Royal's leadership have shown no signs that they want to change their barbecue; in particular, they have said nothing to suggest that they want to open it up to the public. The closest they've come is musing about the possibility of a completely separate, restaurant-led event—which really just emphasized that they want the AR barbecue to remain what it is, a participants-only championship for the competitive BBQ circuit.

"Please understand the American Royal BBQ Contest is a competition, not a sampling event. Due to food safety regulations, sampling of contest foods is prohibited."

[chingon]

Yes, and after something is one way, it can never, ever, ever be a different way.

[pash]

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[longviewmo]

The sample thing does seem weird. Many other places don't have a problem with it

http://ohiobbq.org/BBQ%20Competition%20Etiquette.pdf
http://www.stjomo.com/appleblossom/ <- so it's not a state level issue...
http://www.riversidebluesandbbq.com/events.html <- oh look, we're getting closer to KC and sampling...
http://archuletacountyfair.com/events/bbq-contest/

and that was just on the first page of the google search I did.

[pash]

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[KCPowercat]

Just go ask a team that looks good, they will give you a sample. I have no problem with the city/organization not opening allowing 700 teams to hand out food...first off, i've seen gross teams...2nd off, if people came down there expecting to eat from everybody, you'd have tons of people begging outside of your site....it's not what the competition is about.

[grovester]

Why does every single art fair in town not have any problem serving tons of food from neighborhood restaurants?

[flyingember]

Why does every single art fair in town not have any problem serving tons of food from neighborhood restaurants?

permits, food safety and such. Like has already been said

Like the plaza art fair only uses actual restaurants. Most of the rest they are always established food service companies.

Go to the liberty fall festival, santicaligon. Overland Park fall festival or such. You won't find buy scouts doing hot foot.

[KCPowercat]

Do you really want to eat from a team that hasn't had their food held to the same standard as a restaurant? The teams a lot of times are a group of friends who just want to BBQ and drink, you don't want to eat their food anyways.

I can't remember if they still do this but some teams can apply to give out samples to everyone....they are then put on a list that people can go try their food. They get the full innspection prior....which is a lot more intense than the minimal inspection all teams get of their raw meat, etc. before they start cooking.

[pash]

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[longviewmo]

Just have people sign a waiver or something.

[flyingember]

Just have people sign a waiver or something.

A waiver protects an event from its attendees, largely for things it shouldn't be liable for like sticking ones hand on a hot cooker at a cooking event. It doesn't change the need for the event to follow food safety laws. The waiver would need to come from the city or county.

And even if that were the case, imagine if you were asked to sign a waiver that a place isn't liable for you getting sick or even your death (it happens) from eating the food. yeah, that would go over well.

A better plan would be like the new taxi plan where the food safety group does a bucket safety agreement. the event holds the permit and with this comes standards for the competitors. If they meet the standard they get approved to sell to the public, if not they don't. Have a similar standard to selling food at the city market. Can still do private parties.

[FangKC]

City puts out Kemper RPF, and Foutch Brothers will put forth a second, improved plan.

http://tinyurl.com/n5dhczm

[loftguy]

I can't link to the article from this hotel computer, but KC Star reports that the American Royal parade will now march around Kauffman Stadium.

The Cerner boys really hate downtown, don't they?

[kboish]

Is this kind of like putting a race horse out to pasture to die after its past its prime?

She had a good run, eh?