It'll take place downtown as a fundraiser for Keep Hall Beautiful, according to Keep Hall Beautiful board member Rick Foote.
"After watching a couple programs on Food Network about cook offs, I wondered why something could not be done around chicken in the `Poultry Capital of the World"', said Foote, who also serves as President of the Chicken City Ale Raisers, a local home brewers' group. "Macon has it's Cherry Blossom Festival, Vidalia its Onion Festival and Cordele its Watermelon Festival and Gainesville - nothing that really touts what Gainesville is known for. We need to put Gainesville on the ramp in its rightful place and live up to its claim."
When asked why a group of home brewers would be involved in such an event, Foote said, "In addition to the obvious, we also know a lot about food. In our membership we have two who have competed in cook-offs in Texas and Tennessee. One used to have a catering business."
"Our first rule with this is to make it fun, light-hearted and a bit wacky," said Marsha Fetcher. Executive Director of Keep Hall Beautiful. "When this idea was proposed at our board meeting, a member came up with the suggestion of getting the Mayor to pardon a chicken like the President does for a turkey each Thanksgiving" Continued Fletcher, "I've already arranged for Mayor Wangetnann to do it. He's such a good sport and
supporter of our organization. All we need is a chicken and that shouldn't be hard."
Chicken must be cooked on-site using outdoor cooking methods_ Approved methods include gas, charcoal, and wood. There will be amateur and pro divisions competing in categories for wings and chicken_ Wings may be fried, smoked, grilled. Chicken may be bar-b-clued, smoked or grilled. There will be ribbons for the top three in each division for each category for a total of 12 awards. There may also be cash prizes or items as prizes
as well. A public sampling period will last from about noon to 5 p.m.
All chicken for the event is being donated to participants courtesy of Mar Jac Poultry, Inc. Other sponsors of the Chicken City Spring Chicken Cook Off include Chicken City Ale Raisers, All Purpose Well Drilling, A Window on Main Street, SP Recycling Carp. Gainesville Morning Optimist Club, and Designline Graphics.
Also scheduled downtown that day: the start of the fifth leg of this year's Tour de Georgia and the associated Gainesville Corkscrew Festival - an arts and wine fest.
In addition, the March of Dimes WalkAmerica is scheduled that day on the northside of town.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2005/3/138695