Gatsby Gala

The Museum of the Waxhaws has added another fundraising event to its social calendar -- the Gatsby Gala in Monroe.

The details:

Saturday, June 2, 2012
7:00pm until 10:00pm


THE HENRY HALL WILSON HOUSE, 1301 E. FRANKLIN ST. MONROE NC
   
1920's Themed Casino Night with Dancing and Live Music by Walter Phillips and Jan Ringeling. Heavy Hors D'oeuvres and Cash Bar with Raffle Prizes and Casino Games in An Authentic Upscale 1920's-Era Venue.

$75 per person
Access our online ticket sales via our website
www.museumofthewaxhaws.org
or call the museum at 704.843.1832
Wear your best "Roaring 20's" party attire!

At $75/person and $150/couple, a little rich for my blood, but since as far as I know, I have no Roaring 20's attire, it might be for the best.

But for those of you with extensive wardrobes and looking for something to do...
 

Saturday evening bingo fundraiser at Cureton

There's a bingo fundraiser for the Perez family Saturday evening at the Cureton Clubhouse in Waxhaw. In January 2012, Robert Perez was diagnosed with an inoperable Stage 4 Glioblastoma (brain cancer) and will soon lose his health insurance.

I cannot attend due to a previously scheduled engagements, but at $10 per 3 cards, I should be looking for someone to play three cards for me. In fact, all of Waxhaw should be playing three cards given that price and the cause.

For more info or to donate, his friends have set up a web page.

DrumStrong

I noticed on my way home from work that they're setting up for DrumStrong again. I'm not real familiar with this event, but it seems to draw a lot of people each year and they support various cancer initiatives.

I'm not sure if this falls within the jurisdiction of Waxhaw or not, but either way it's close enough.

It's not too late to register for those looking to participate. See their page for all the details.

For those that have attended in the past, what are the odds that Paper Jamz drums will be used in the 30-hour non-stop drum circle? Just wondering.

Keith Larson's 10th anniversary ride

Keith Larson had his 10th anniversary motorcycle charity ride this weekend. From what I can gather, there was a pretty large shindig planned with bounce houses et al. in Waxhaw at the end of the ride. Pictures and video are available at Keith's page at WBT.com

They were set to arrive in Waxhaw around 3pm but the aforementioned block party prevented me from checking it out.

In other Larson news, it appears he will soon no longer have a show on WBT, per a Charlotte Business Journal article and a Charlotte Observer article. I haven't had a chance to listen to his show for years, but generally enjoyed his show on the occasion I got to listen. Back in the day, he did Keillor-esque snippets regarding Waxhaw which I found interesting even before moving here. Combine that with an a good taste in music and similar philosophies, and I was a regular listener when the opportunity allowed.

Alas, I haven't listened in years since my job isn't amenable to listening to 3 hours of radio during the day, nor do I have an extra three hours to download and listen to the daily podcasts. I've always wondered if continues to highlight Waxhaw.

My favorite (and honestly the only one I recall specifically for obvious reasons) was when he talked about the prevalence of secret or not-so-secret swingers in his Waxhaw neighborhood, the crux being that he and his wife were never invited to the gatherings if my memory serves. No idea if it was true or not, but I'm sure it made life interesting in his neighborhood for a little while.

Anyone have any ideas if Keith Larson has still been talking about Waxhaw on his show in recent years?

Help support Kate Zidanic

Fox's Pizza is having another "Help Support Kate Zidanic" fundraiser this evening from 4 - 8pm, the proceeds of which go to helping cover Kate's medical bills as she fights lymphoma. See my previous post for more details.

If you mention Kate Zidanic's name when ordering, 15% of the proceeds go to covering her medical bills.

It was apparently a busy night the the last time Fox's Pizza sponsored one of these fundraisers, so it may take a bit longer to get your order than normal. From was kind enough to host one of her fundraisers. From an email Rick Giarla sent out:

Last month, Fox's Pizza held a "Kate Zidanic Night" with so many of our parents supporting Kate with purchases of pizza and other items on the menu. Rick Hodge, owner of Fox's told me that it was "his busiest non-weekend night in the history of Fox's Pizza".

So for those of you who have a board of commissioners or Cub Scout meeting to attend, make sure you get your order placed with plenty of time to spare.

Here's a coupon that can be used tonight only to get a 1-topping medium for $8. Three of those dollars go directly to Kate's medical bills fund.

UPDATE: GingerSnap 5k

I briefly mentioned this in a prior post, but the GingerSnap 5K takes place in Waxhaw on December 3rd. My wife is already signed up to run.

For those interested, you can still sign up here. Proceeds support "Girls on the Run."

UPDATE 12/2: The GingerSnap 5K is still looking for volunteers for tomorrow morning's race. Citizens of Waxhaw unite! And then sign up here.

Help support Kate Zidanic

Tonight is "Help Support Kate Zidanic" night at Fox's Pizza in Waxhaw.

Kate is a little 6-year old girl that was diagnosed with lymphona in May of this year. Rick Giarla passed along this statement by Kate's mom to WAA families:

She was diagnosed in May with Lymphoma. She seems to be responding well to the chemo, but still has a rough month ahead of her. Once this chemo is over, she will have 18 months of maintenance. she lost all of her hair last week but that will begin growing back in the maintenance phase (the chemo is not as strong). This money goes directly to a fund at 5/3rd bank designated for her medical bills.

It runs tonight from 4-8pm at Fox’s Pizza Den tonight. Fox’s is donating 15% of your order to help offset their rising medical costs.

Don't forget to mention that you are supporting Kate Zidanic when you place your order!

So if you've got a hankering for some good pizza or just want to help support the Zidanic family's medical costs, get yourself over to Fox's Pizza for some dinner between 4-8pm this evening.

There was also a coupon in the email for a 1-topping medium pizza for a mere $8, $3 of which goes directly to the Zidanic family.

Pass this along.

South Providence update

Here's my belated update on Rick Giarla's rooftop fundraiser from a couple weeks ago. From an Elizabeth Belk update over at the Waxhaw PTA Facebook page over a week ago:

THANK YOU to everyone who was able to help support Rick in his effort to raise money for South Providence School this past weekend. He raised right around $5000.00!!!! What a great thing for this school and the kids.

A little way off from the $30000 goal, but in this economy it is still a significant chunk of change I bet South Providence appreciates immensely.

The fundraiser web page is still up, so I imagine you can still contribute if you haven't already done so.

Waxhaw Pub Crawl?

Apparently the first annual Waxhaw Pub Crawl occurred Saturday night, but who knew? The philosophical side of me wants to ask "Does a pub crawl really occur if I haven't heard about it?"

I suspect I'm not the only person who heard about this fundraising event after the fact. I'm sure others are more well-versed in Waxhaw happenings than I, but I'm struggling to understand how I never caught a sniff of this until the day after. It's practically a part time job for me to keep up with beer-related town news and somehow this failed to enter my radar.

From Lori's Facebook page, the money raised benefited the Adam Faulk Tanksley Foundation to chomp out childhood cancer. I blogged about their annual AdamFest festival back in September. I concluded my thoughts with a note about how I wish I had more notice so I could've blogged about it beforehand.

And here I am once again wishing I had more notice to share the details of this fun fundraising outing for an excellent cause before the event and not afterwards. I suspect more money would be raised towards fighting childhood cancer if the respective parties would get the word out a little better. Who do I complain to at the apparently secretive Waxhaw Social Club?

I've got so many questions: how many attended? Where was one to find out about this event? How did money get raised for the Adam Faulk Tanksley Foundation? Koozie and tee shirt sales only? Or was there a participation fee? Did the bars contribute as well? How much was earned in all? And how fun was it? So many questions.

UPDATE: fixed typo

Chili Cookoff @ Parkwood Middle

Just a note that there's a Chili Cookoff & Fall Festival at Parkwood Middle School this Saturday October 22nd from 11a-4p.

If you're looking for something to do next, it's only $5 to taste the chili. $10 to enter the cookoff and taste.

BBQ results

The results of Waxhaw's Grill'n & Chill'n BBQ Cookoff are available at the town website here. Unfortunately, it's a mish-mash of downloadable PDF and Excel files. Not very convenient for looking at the results.

So here they are in all their slightly-more-convenient glory:

Waxhaw Grill'n & Chill'n BBQ Cookoff
October 8-9, 2011
Kansas City BBQ Society PRO Results

Place Overall
1 Uncle Mac's BBQ Crue, Charlotte, NC
2 Palmetto Smokehouse, Greenwood, SC
3 Serial Griller, Yorktown, VA
4 Up in Smoke, Rock Hill, SC
5 Carolinas BBQ Co., Hildebran, NC
6 Red, White and Que, Waxhaw, NC
7 Rock Store BBQ, Indian Trail, NC
8 Bad Mother Smoker, Concord, NC
9 Smokin' Good, Fort Mill, SC
10 Texas Outback Cookers, Monroe, NC
11 Butt's R Us, Waxhaw, NC
12 Chubby's BBQ, Monroe, NC
13 Kick'n & Grill'n, Waxhaw, NC
14 521 BBQ, Indian Land, SC
15 Jo's Jo's Backyard BBQ, Monroe, NC
16 Just Good, Inc., Monroe, NC


Waxhaw Grill'n & Chill'n BBQ Cookoff
October 8-9, 2011
Kansas City BBQ Society PRO Results Chicken

Place Chicken
1 Uncle Mac's BBQ Crue, Charlotte, NC
2 Bad Mother Smoker, Concord, NC
3 Palmetto Smokehouse, Greenwood, SC
4 Carolinas BBQ Co., Hildebran, NC
5 Rock Store BBQ, Indian Trail, NC
6 Up in Smoke, Rock Hill, SC
7 Texas Outback Cookers, Monroe, NC
8 Red, White and Que, Waxhaw, NC
9 Butt's R Us, Waxhaw, NC
10 Serial Griller, Yorktown, VA
11 Smokin' Good, Fort Mill, SC
12 Kick'n & Grill'n, Waxhaw, NC
13 521 BBQ, Indian Land, SC
14 Chubby's BBQ, Monroe, NC
15 Jo's Jo's Backyard BBQ, Monroe, NC
16 Just Good, Inc., Monroe, NC


Waxhaw Grill'n & Chill'n BBQ Cookoff
October 8-9, 2011
Kansas City BBQ Society PRO Results Pork Ribs

Place Pork Ribs
1 Up in Smoke, Rock Hill, SC
2 Palmetto Smokehouse, Greenwood, SC
3 Uncle Mac's BBQ Crue, Charlotte, NC
4 Rock Store BBQ, Indian Trail, NC
5 Serial Griller, Yorktown, VA
6 Chubby's BBQ, Monroe, NC
7 Red, White and Que, Waxhaw, NC
8 Carolinas BBQ Co., Hildebran, NC
9 Butt's R Us, Waxhaw, NC
10 Bad Mother Smoker, Concord, NC
11 521 BBQ, Indian Land, SC
12 Smokin' Good, Fort Mill, SC
13 Texas Outback Cookers, Monroe, NC
14 Jo's Jo's Backyard BBQ, Monroe, NC
15 Kick'n & Grill'n, Waxhaw, NC
16 Just Good, Inc., Monroe, NC


Waxhaw Grill'n & Chill'n BBQ Cookoff
October 8-9, 2011
Kansas City BBQ Society PRO Results Pork

Place Pork
1 Smokin' Good, Fort Mill, SC
2 Uncle Mac's BBQ Crue, Charlotte, NC
3 Carolinas BBQ Co., Hildebran, NC
4 Serial Griller, Yorktown, VA
5 Rock Store BBQ, Indian Trail, NC
6 Red, White and Que, Waxhaw, NC
7 Bad Mother Smoker, Concord, NC
8 Texas Outback Cookers, Monroe, NC
9 Palmetto Smokehouse, Greenwood, SC
10 Kick'n & Grill'n, Waxhaw, NC
11 Up in Smoke, Rock Hill, SC
12 521 BBQ, Indian Land, SC
13 Just Good, Inc., Monroe, NC
14 Butt's R Us, Waxhaw, NC
15 Jo's Jo's Backyard BBQ, Monroe, NC
16 Chubby's BBQ, Monroe, NC


Waxhaw Grill'n & Chill'n BBQ Cookoff
October 8-9, 2011
Kansas City BBQ Society PRO Results Overall Brisket

Place Brisket
1 Serial Griller, Yorktown, VA
2 Uncle Mac's BBQ Crue, Charlotte, NC
3 Palmetto Smokehouse, Greenwood, SC
4 Red, White and Que, Waxhaw, NC
5 Up in Smoke, Rock Hill, SC
6 Kick'n & Grill'n, Waxhaw, NC
7 Bad Mother Smoker, Concord, NC
8 Carolinas BBQ Co., Hildebran, NC
9 Butt's R Us, Waxhaw, NC
10 Texas Outback Cookers, Monroe, NC
11 Chubby's BBQ, Monroe, NC
12 Smokin' Good, Fort Mill, SC
13 Rock Store BBQ, Indian Trail, NC
14 521 BBQ, Indian Land, SC
15 Just Good, Inc., Monroe, NC
16 Jo's Jo's Backyard BBQ, Monroe, NC


Waxhaw Grill'n & Chill'n BBQ Cookoff
October 8-9, 2011
People's Choice Award

Place Butts Team #
1 Carolinas BBQ Co., Hildebran, NC 9
2 Smokin' Good, Fort Mill, SC 15
3 Backwoods BBQ, Waxhaw, NC 1
4 The Sizzlin' Pigs, Monroe, NC 6
5 521 BBQ, Indian Land, SC 7
6 Butt's R Us, Waxhaw, NC 8
7 King B BBQ, Charlotte, NC 4
8 Butt Burners BBQ, Waxhaw, NC 3
Billy Bob Beamer BBQ, Waxhaw, NC 2
Meat and Heat, Waxhaw, NC 5
Chubby's BBQ, Monroe, NC 10
Kick'n & Grill'n, Waxhaw, NC 11
Palmetto Smokehouse, Greenwood, SC 12
Red, White and Que, Waxhaw, NC 13
Rock Store BBQ, Indian Trail, NC 14
Texas Outback Cookers, Monroe, NC 16
Up in Smoke, Rock Hill, SC 17


Place Ribs Team #
1 Carolinas BBQ Co., Hildebran, NC 9
2 Butt Burners BBQ, Waxhaw, NC 3
3 Uncle Mac's BBQ Crue, Charlotte, NC 8
4* The Sizzlin' Pigs, Monroe, NC 6
4* 521 BBQ, Indian Land, SC 7
4* Chubby's BBQ, Monroe, NC 10
4* Red, White and Que, Waxhaw, NC 13
Backwoods BBQ, Waxhaw, NC 1
Billy Bob Beamer BBQ, Waxhaw, NC 2
King B BBQ, Charlotte, NC 4
Meat and Heat, Waxhaw, NC 5
Kick'n & Grill'n, Waxhaw, NC 11
Palmetto Smokehouse, Greenwood, SC 12
Rock Store BBQ, Indian Trail, NC 14
Smokin' Good, Fort Mill, SC 15
Texas Outback Cookers, Monroe, NC 16

*Four way tie for 4th place



Waxhaw Grill'n & Chill'n BBQ Cookoff
October 8-9, 2011
Kansas City BBQ Society Backyard Results

Place Overall
1 The Sizzlin' Pigs, Monroe, NC
2 Butt Burners BBQ, Waxhaw, NC
3 Meat and Heat, Waxhaw, NC
4 Backwoods BBQ, Waxhaw, NC
5 King B BBQ, Charlotte, NC
6 Billy Bob Beamer BBQ, Waxhaw, NC
7 Somerset Smokers, Waxhaw, NC

Place Pork Ribs
1 The Sizzlin' Pigs, Monroe, NC
2 King B BBQ, Charlotte, NC
3 Butt Burners BBQ, Waxhaw, NC
4 Meat and Heat, Waxhaw, NC
5 Backwoods BBQ, Waxhaw, NC
6 Billy Bob Beamer BBQ, Waxhaw, NC
7 Somerset Smokers, Waxhaw, NC

Place Pork
1 Somerset Smokers, Waxhaw, NC
2 Backwoods BBQ, Waxhaw, NC
3 Butt Burners BBQ, Waxhaw, NC
4 Meat and Heat, Waxhaw, NC
5 The Sizzlin Pigs, Monroe, NC
6 King B BBQ, Charlotte, NC
7 Billy Bob Beamer BBQ, Waxhaw, NC

I wish I could've been there.

UPDATE: Rick's apparently on the roof

But still no Facebook pictures?!

What the heck is everyone doing in Waxhaw today? Make yourselves useful.

On a serious note, I've already touched upon Rick Giarla's efforts this weekend and urge you to contribute if you can spare a dime or preferably more. He's set a hefty goal, so it be nice to reach it or at least come as close to it as we can. Hopefully the entirety of the county chips in on this fundraiser as it benefits students from across the county, not just those from Waxhaw.

Here's the page to do it.

The Union County Weekly wrote up an article on this fundraiser, providing some specifics about how the money will be spent. A snippet:

Giarla will be on top of Stacks from 8 a.m. Friday to 8 a.m. Monday, while volunteers work down below, collecting donations. He hopes to raise $30,000 for the school. That would allow South Providence to buy eight Smart Boards for the classrooms at $3,400 each and two dozen TI 83 calculators at $85 each.

Read the whole thing.

UPDATE 8.58p: It appears that Jim Black is on the case and has some pictures up now on Facebook.

Museum of the Waxhaws follow-up

This is extremely belated on my part, but the Union County Weekly ran a follow up to the investigation into the Museum of the Waxhaws. (I blogged about this here, here, here, and here.)

The Cliff's Note version: the Secretary of State has closed its investigation into the Museum of the Waxhaws, but forwarded the complaints onto the Attorney General, so apparently there was enough differences between the tax documents and the complaints that they felt the need to pass it along to the Attorney General. Or at least that's the way I read it.

For example, this snippets below suggests that at the very least not all the required financial information was included on their tax forms that should have been:

Union County Weekly obtained copies of both written complaints and the investigation report. The first complaint, dated April 6, pointed out that the Andrew Jackson Historical Society, the parent group that operates the museum, had two significant grants provided to them in excess of $200,000, as well as several smaller grants. Yet in the six day investigation that followed, department officials said they couldn’t find any evidence the museum had received state funds.

...

Proctor said the investigators missed that information because it wasn’t listed in the museum’s 990 tax return for those years.

“The 990 forms didn’t specify any grant money,” Proctor said. “(The investigators) were just able to look over what we received from the nonprofit.”

If anyone gleaned any other information from this article, feel free to share. I'm not ashamed to admit this is all a little confusing to me.

I've yet to hear any definitive results as to whether the Attorney General felt the need to pursue an investigation or not. If I hear anything more definitive, I will pass it along.

For what it's worth, apparently four complaints were made against the Museum of the Waxhaws, one of them originating from the since terminated Scott Farb.

Yet another WAA volunteer update

Rick Giarla sent out another update to WAA members. Here it is:

I promise, this will be my last plea for help. We were just made aware (today) that because of the large turnout that the Town of Waxhaw is expecting for this weekends Autumn Treasures event, they are asking for 24 more volunteers to serve as "block captains" on Saturday to answer questions and give directions to the various venus offered to the public. If you've had a change of plans for the weekend and find that you can give a few hours of your time on Saturday, please go to http://www.signupgenius.com/go/autumn14 and choose one of the available time slots. WAA stands to gain $7,000.00-$8,000.00 from our willingness to volunteer this weekend and I personally will be forever grateful. Thanks so much!

Nice of the town to drop this on the WAA at hte eleventh hour.

Adding the 24 new volunteers needed to the slots still unfilled, the WAA now needs 58 volunteers. So if you've got the wherewithal to volunteer, there's basically one more day left to give Rick and the WAA a hand. Please sign up if you can.

This will probably be my last plea for help as well.

In other Rick-related charity news, you can contribute to his South Providence school fundraiser here. Not many have contributed thus far and $30000 is quite a goal nowadays. Hopefully some local businesses can contribute to help him get closer to his goal.

Chip in for South Providence

I mentioned Rick Giarla's rooftop adventure atop of Stack's Kitchen. (Is that my best headline yet? I was pretty happy with it for what it's worth.)

He's looking to raise $30000 for South Providence school in Waxhaw near the library.

For those looking to contribute to the cause, a site has been set up to make it awful convenient to support the cause. Visit and contribute what you can.

By the way, the WAA still needs volunteers this weekend. Sign up and lend a hand (and score some BBQ at the same time.)

Update on WAA volunteers

Rick Giarla sent out another email to WAA parents requesting volunteers for the BBQ cook-off this weekend at the Autumn Treasures festival, previously mentioned here.

I'd estimate 20 volunteers signed up today, but by my count, 47 more are still needed.

Twenty out of forty tasting servers are still needed for 12.30p-3.00p on Sunday.

Twenty-one out of forty servers/clean up persons are needed for the 3.00p-5.30p shift on Sunday as well.

So if you can spare a small shift, either in one of the aforementioned shifts or the other slots where someone is needed, please sign up.

UPDATE 10/5: It's just updates on top of updates here at the Broome Street Blues. As of 12.42p, only 39 volunteers needed with a couple more days left to fill the slots. Keep 'em coming!

Hicks in stix support Rick on Stacks?

I mentioned the help the WAA and Rick Giarla could use for the BBQ cook-off at Autumn Treasures. I also briefly touch upon Rick's latest feat for the community, but wanted to expand upon it with further details. From the WAA's Facebook page:

Beginning Friday, October 14th, South Providence will be hosting its largest fundraiser to date, thanks to the innovation and dedication of Waxhaw’s own, Rick Giarla. Rick became aware of the needs of South Providence through a conversation with Gale Smith, a custodian at the school. Gale has known Rick and his enthusiastic community involvement through Waxhaw Athletic Association, of which Rick is president. Gale approached Rick at the beginning of the school year in hopes he could somehow help the school acquire some technological needs such as Smartboards. Being a supporter of the community and students alike, Rick was up for the challenge.

Rick has served as PTO president of Waxhaw elementary as well as Parkwood middle, but he saw this as an opportunity to help a school that serves students across Union County. “I can make a difference and help South Providence get the same technology that the more affluent schools receive.” Rick met with Barry Ross, principal of South Providence for coffee in Waxhaw where they discussed the needs of the school and how Rick could help. The idea of “Sitting for South Providence” was born!

Rick fashioned the concept of people around the county, sponsoring him with donations as he spent the weekend atop a local Waxhaw establishment. He spoke with the owner of Stacks restaurant on Providence Road and the two agreed that the restaurant was the perfect location. George, the owner, even offered to feed Rick for the duration of his stay on the roof. The only task left to do was to get the word out and attract supporters for the cause. “The key to success here is getting all Union County schools behind it” Rick stated. He has a goal in mind of raising $30,000 for South Providence and is hoping that the community backs up his effort.

Rick will start his crusade at 8am Friday, October 14th and hopes to make it through the weekend, coming down from the roof at 8am Monday, October 17th. Staff members from South Providence will be rotating in shifts in from of Stacks throughout the weekend, collecting donations and showing their support for the cause. We are hoping for a great turn out and would love to see you there, supporting some of the best students from around the county. “These kids are just like any other kid, they deserve the same benefits.”

As if you needed another reason to support Rick efforts for the South Providence school or the for the WAA at the BBQ cook-off, I'll provide you with a brief personal take, a story I rarely share. My oldest had just signed up for tee ball in the WAA a few years ago, attending a handful of practices if memory serves. Complaining of headaches, he had an MRI that discovered a golf-ball sized tumor in his brain. He was immediately admitted to the hospital and underwent emergency surgery to remove the tumor.

Post surgery, a stranger showed up with balloons (a baseball balloon was tucked in there as well) and it was Rick. Word must've filtered from our coach to Rick and he'd driven all the way from Waxhaw to Levine's Children's Hospital to deliver some balloons and wish our son, who he had never met, well. It made quite the impression on my wife and I.

I strongly suspect there's similar stories about Rick not yet told and my suspicion is that Rick likes it that way. I also suspect he wouldn't mind some support in his local fundraisers, such as this one or the BBQ cook-off supporting the WAA.

If Rick is supporting a cause, it's likely a cause worth supporting.

WAA needs volunteers!

I mentioned earlier that the proceeds of this year's BBQ cook-off at the Autumn Treasures festival will benefit the Waxhaw Athletic Association. However, they need a lot of volunteers to assist with the BBQ cook-off.

So all WAA parents and supporters need to step up and spare a few hours if at all possible to help out. They've set up a sign-up sheet through signupgenius.com that makes it pretty convenient to lend a hand.

Perusing the list, it appears the biggest need is tasting servers on Sunday October 9th from 12.30p-3.00p and Servers/Clean-up people on Sunday October 9th 3.00p-5.30p. Please sign up and lend a hand. If there's a local organization other than schools that affects more local kids, I can't think of it it right now.

And donating your time to the WAA will also score you some BBQ. Rick Giarla sent an email out explaining the details:

We were just notified that ALL volunteers at this event will receive $10 in tickets to be used at the BBQ Cook-off Public Tasting on Sunday, October 9 from 1:30-4:30pm. So, when you think about it, you are getting PAID to VOLUNTEER!

I suspect there's a lot of people who can pull themselves away from Autumn Treasures for a few hours to benefit a local organization and to score some free BBQ, so please sign-up as soon as possible.

If not for the kids, then do it to help out Rick Giarla who has done tons for this community. He needs his energy for the next weekend when he plans to spend a weekend on the roof of Stack's Kitchen to benefit the South Providence school in Waxhaw proper. He needs his energy for that task rather than running around harried filling in for a lack of volunteers during Autumn Treasures. Please sign up today to lend a hand!

BBQ judges needed

From the town's Facebook page:

We are looking for folks that might be interested in judging our Grill'n & Chill'n BBQ Cook-off sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS) on Sunday, October 9. KCBS prefers their own judges, but right now we may be short a few. It's a tough job, but someone has to do it!. You would get a little training before hand and would be required to attend from 9:30am-1pm on Sunday. Please e-mail Cathy at events@waxhaw.com if interested.

Here's a testimonial on the fun from one of last year's judges, Martin Lane: "Nothing to it. I would love to do it again, but won't be in town until that afternoon. Let me give you all the low down. You show up at 9:30. The guy tells you to pick your favorite, then you eat free BBQ until lunch time. You get some cool stuff and all the leftovers, then you go home. Seriously, its that easy."

I'm sure there will be lots of interest in free BBQ so get your email in to Cathy ASAP if you want to be considered and more importantly if you can be a fair and evenhanded arbiter in this competition.

And if you fail to be selected due to plain bad luck or some town conspiracy, both nefarious and nebulus, you can still come out and sink your teeth into some excellent BBQ for a good cause. I hear this year the money raised benefit the Waxhaw Athletics Association (WAA).

Wounded Warriers fundraiser at Rippington's

Sunday night's Grand Re-opening at Rippington's doubles as a fundraiser for the Wounded Warrior Project.

The event runs Sunday, September 25th from 5-8pm at Rippington's. Per Lori:

15.00 PER PERSON. THIS INCLUDES CHOICES FROM OUR BAR MENU AND 3 DRINKS. THERE WILL BE LOTS OF GREAT DOOR PRIZES. WE WILL KEEP YOU POSTED AS WE ADD SOME EXCITING THINGS TO THIS EVENT.

See the Facebook page for all the details. First come, first served.

I'd really like to attend the event. Not only is it an excellent cause, but it's also affordable for regular joes. A lot of times, charity fundraisers can seem a little daunting because of entry cost or perceived cost. I'm not sure if I'm speaking for others or just myself.

Of course, Sunday evening, especially on Cub Scout camping weekends, tend to be busy with getting caught up with homework and winding down before a long week of early rising. We'll see if we can swing it, but if you've got that portion of your schedule open, I cannot think of a better place to be. I imagine Rippington's will be filled to capacity.