DU BBQ Challenge Grows 50 Percent

David Bain, chairman of the Benton County Chapter of Ducks Unlimited, said the group’s annual state barbecue championships fundraiser increased its gross by 50 percent from about $40,000 in 2003 to more than $60,000 this April.

Sixty teams from 11 states competed at the Benton Country Fairgrounds in the Fourth annual Fire Up Your Grill Barbecue Championship. The overall champions, Matt and Linda Pierson of Kansas City, Mo., won $2,500 and a spot this fall in the world barbecue championships in their hometown. They won an additional $950 for placing in a variety of individual categories.

Char-Broil, a vendor to Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and a division of the W.C. Bradley Co. in Columbus, Ga., sponsors the event, which benefits Ducks Unlimited. W.C. Bradley is a corporate partner of DU, which conserves, restores and manages wetlands and associated habitats for North American waterfowl.

Bain, owner of Bentonville insurance firm Benefits Services Group, said 22 corporate sponsors made the revenue surge possible. About 2,500 people attended the event despite nine inches of rain in four days during the April 24 weekend.

Bain credited the event’s coordinator, promotional and marketing company The Sunflower Group, with helping make the cookoff a success. He said the corporate sponsorship component is expected to be even bigger next year.