by Jay Lawson
Max Cohen approached the Town of Webb Board at its meeting on Tuesday to brief them on the status of a new event he is planning for Old Forge next summer.
It is a barbecue competition that has the potential to be quite big, he said.
Cohen, who presented a new home show last summer, said he intends the barbecue competition to happen alongside his second annual home show.
Both events are to take place on the last weekend of July.
That is a change from the first home show that took place earlier in the month, according to Cohen.
Cohen said that he is involved with a new company called Adkny Events LLC. The purpose of the outfit is to create and promote Adirondack events of all kinds.
Right now, its focus is to grow the existing home show and establish the new barbecue competition, he said.
And he wants to Town of Webb Board and the local community to be on board to hopefully lend support and ensure a smooth event.
The barbecue competition will be officially sanctioned by the National Barbecue Association, according to Cohen, who said he is a member.
“There is a meeting the first weekend in March, so I’m going to Jacksonville, Florida [for that],” Cohen said.
There, Cohen has arranged to meet with representatives of Kansas City Barbecue, who he described as the official barbecue people of the United States.
“This is going to be a big event. We’re getting sanctioned. We’re going to have official judges,” Cohen said.
Among them, Cohen expects to have Symeon Tsoupelis and Erin Hamlin, the Olympic Bronze medalist.
“We have rented the [George T. Hiltebrant] pavilion from Wednesday through Monday, to give us time to set up and tear down,” Cohen said.
Adkny Events has also bought a tent that will cover the barbecue teams as they compete. So, additional outdoor space will be needed on the grounds of the Hiltebrant Recreation Center.
Cohen said he will be contacting the Code Enforcement Office to nail down any permits and see if Planning Board approval is necessary.
“I don’t want to be blindsided after I put $30 thousand into an event,” he said.
Cohen said that he experienced a surprise or two when presenting his 2015 home show.
“Last year I spent a ton of money on signage, only to find out that, unless somebody is physically wearing a sign on their body, you can’t put a sign up,” he said.
That forced some last minute creativity, that Cohen said he hopes he doesn’t have to repeat.
“But, if I’ve got to have a bunch of 10-year-olds running around town that weekend, like I did last year, with signs on the person, then I guess that’s what I’ll do,” he said.
“I just don’t want to be blindsided.”
Cohen said he is throwing himself into this home show and barbecue competition, and he hopes it’s just the start.
“Hopefully it becomes a big event and Adkny Events will have enough resources to maybe do a music event at McCauley or the pavilion,” he said.
“We just want to capitalize on busy weekends. It doesn’t seem like the end of July is a really heavy weekend, as far as outside events—other than the [water] park and the lakes,” Cohen said.
Cohen said he is estimating up to 500 exhibitors and competitors setting up for the event in summer 2016.
“If we get 35 barbecue teams, those are usually groups of five to ten people. So there is going to be potential for quite a big influx,” he said.
And those are just the participants, many of whom will stay on site during the event and in the local lodging establishments.
The draw of spectators and public tasters is expected to be considerable as well, according to Cohen.
“There will be a people’s choice [component] too,” he said.
“So, hopefully we can lock down that last weekend of July as our weekend. And I’m looking for as much support as possible,” he said.
“It should be good. I feel like a lot of people in the Utica area know me, so hopefully we will get some support from the Chamber of Commerce down there and we can join up here,” Cohen said.