Originally posted in jeffweinstein.com
1. Athens is the home of the hamburger. Thank you Uncle Fletch.
2. If you will it, it is not a dream. A few dedicated people decided to breathe life back into the hamburger festival and made it happen. You know who you are, thank you. Thanks also to our amazing sponsors.
3. Corny is still king. Dunk your head in ketchup with WhataGuy, eat too many Big Macs, race around the square after eating Sonic hamburgers, get dunked in Walmart pickle juice or moo like a cow does at Mooyah, it’s all good. We love it.
4. People will cook burgers. Who doesn’t want to be the world hamburger champion? I know I do.
5. Our goals were met. Have over 20 cook teams, have more than a 1000 people attend and make people want to have the festival again next year. Triple Check. Game on for 2015.
What’s your take?
I thought it was great, and I totally agree about the “corny is king.” My one suggestion would be to have a second platform, big enough to allow the contestants in the eating and bobbing for burgers contests to be easily seen by the crowd. It was not always possible to view the contestants easily. That aside, really good work. Thank you for all your hard work to make it possible for the community to enjoy.
You are reading our minds, Toni … we are talking about getting portable risers to build a small platform in front of the bandstand so everyone can see.
I thought it was great!! The one thing I would change (if I ruled the world!) would be to add a little more substance to the cook-off…maybe have runners up or other prizes for most creative, etc., or call the top 3 teams up to the stage for a dramatic “reveal” like they do on Food Network 🙂 It would have been nice to see who the runners up would be, after putting all that time and effort into perfecting our burger in the weeks leading up to the contest. All in all, I can’t wait to do it again next year…thanks for everything you guys did to make it happen!
Jennifer — We have heard several people say the same thing. We are not sure exactly what changes we will make, but there will be changes to the awards structure of the cook off next year. 🙂 …. And thank you for the kind words!