1. Tent Company can schedule tent setup by appointment only for Monday April 23 rd and Tuesday April 24 th. Tent Company and large items (campers, pits, and generators) can move in on Wednesday April 25 th between 9:00 am - 7:00 pm, with no overnight stay or site set up allowed. The site perimeter fence will be locked at 7:00 pm. There will be no on-site security and items left will be at owner s risk. Thursday, April 26 th move in time is between 6:00 am - 7:00 pm. This will not be negotiable. If you cannot be moved in by 7:00 pm, you MAY continue to carry in (small items only) from 8:00 am until NOON on Friday. Vehicles are only allowed in event area long enough to drop off their loads. No unattended vehicles are permitted in aisle ways. All vehicles not committed to the event within their space, MUST be out of the cooking area by Thursday 7:00 pm. Friday all vehicles outside of their space will be towed at owner expense. No remaining vehicles will be allowed to exit the event until Sunday 6:00 am. 2. All Bands and DJ's are required to be on a preapproved list to entering and exiting the event. All Bands and DJ's members will be required to pay admission for entry and MUST BE ESCORTED in/out on Friday and Saturday. 3. All contestants must check in with a committee member upon arrival, to confirm your designated area. If you have a large cooking rig or camper, please come early and please wait for a committee member to direct you to the best route to access your spot. Several committee members will be on hand to help make your arrival flow smoothly. 4. Anyone in your party not spending the night will need to leave the park by 11:00 pm Thursday, and 1:00 am Friday and Saturday nights. There will be no re-entry to the park until 6:00 am Friday and Saturday mornings. All persons except cookers with wrist bands will need a ticket to enter the gate each day. ** Nobody is permitted to stay at the park Wednesday Night. ** 5. The South Belt Cook-Off does not supply electricity or water, you will need to bring your own. However, there will be plenty of ice for purchase, throughout the event. 6. For any questions or concerns, please contact your team liaison assigned exclusively to service your cooking team. The liaison will serve your needs for ice, answer questions, and take care of any issues you may encounter. Your cooking Team is considered a major contributor and we will respectfully strive to give you the first class service you deserve. 7. Contestants may not charge admission to his or her space. Contestants may not sell any items (including food or beverage), solicit, accept donations, tips or raffle any items. No registration for drawings or gaming operations permitted. (Exception; Bar Tenders may be tipped) 8. All private parties require a uniformed commissioned peace officer until the party is resolved. We also require the officer s name and contact information to be provided to the event coordinator. There is no entry fee if the officer is in uniform and on duty. 9. No glass containers are allowed inside the park at any time. Please be sure all drinks, cooking containers and the like are made of a plastic or aluminum material. 10. Contestants must comply with all pertinent laws and ordinances, including Harris County Health Department rules and the provisions of the Texas Alcohol and Beverage Commission. The State laws of contributing alcohol to a minor will be enforced.
11. The Head Cook is responsible for the behavior in his or her booth. Any unacceptable behavior will be subject to be disbarred from the cook-off. 12. Parking There will be no parking around the perimeter of the cooking area. There will be signs for designated parking. There will be 4 different parking lots available. Please inform your team members and guests that any parking along the perimeter of the cooking area is prohibited. Vehicles will be towed at the owner s expense. There will be handicap parking in the community center parking lot. 13. No off-road vehicles of any kind will be allowed in the park. This is a Harris County Park rule and violators will be ticketed and fined. This includes golf carts, ATV's, scooters, dirt bikes, etc... The only vehicles in the cook off area will be those used by the cook off committee and security. These vehicles will be identified as such. 14. When the park closes down for the night, all music MUST be turned down to a normal conversational level or less. If you want to listen to music all night, have respect for others trying to sleep. 15. Cook-off Committee and sponsors will not be responsible for any theft, damage, or injury. 16. All equipment shall be removed from the cook off area by NOON Sunday, April 29 th. 17. Your 40x40 and aisle area near you, must be cleaned before you leave. No grease allowed on ground. All discharge must be contained. Utilize port a cans for grease disposal. No large debris will be permitted to be left on site. (Example: pallets, wood, bricks, etc.). A committee member will inspect your spot before you move out. You will be refunded your deposit check upon inspection. If you leave without an inspection, your clean up deposit is not refundable and will be forfeited. 18. Failure to abide by these rules set forth may result in disqualification of your cook team and ejection from the park at the discretion of the Security Team. 19. There will be NO KEGS ALLOWED in the event. 20. There will be no Drones allowed per Harris County Parks personal 21. Cook teams may bring in 10 cases of beer per spot on Thursday ONLY. No ice storage containers allowed with bags of ice. South Belt personnel has the Right to inspect and inforce team removal of excess Beer / Ice from the Cook Off. Beer and ice sales will be available from the South Belt Spectacular from 5:00 pm Thursday throughout the event for $28.00 a case (24-12oz aluminum cans). Please remember this is a fund raiser to support our Community and Scholarship programs. Beer and Ice sales help achieve our Goals. We appreciate your support! Unfortunately, due to the lack of participation in sale last year, we will be strictly enforcing the Rules this year. We will allow Teams to bring in additional cases of beer on Thursday Only with prior approval. A fee of $5.00 will be accessed on each case. 22. Liquor may be brought in through the back gate only. Liquor must be brought in by a cooker with a wrist band.
23. Team names should not contain offensive, suggestive language or abbreviations. Names are subject to committee approval. 24. Harris County Fire Marshall requires each team to have a 10# ABC fire extinguisher visible and readily available. 25. Park rules state no drinking alcohol inside park. Only permitted within event perimeter, subject to Harris County Sheriff enforcement. Cook-Off Judging Rules 1. Contestants may not marinate, season, or cook any judging meat prior to the event tagging and/or inspection of the meat, after the cook's meeting. All food turned in for judging must be cooked on the premises No garnishments are allowed. Do not cut brisket until a committee member is present and verifies your tag. There will be a time limit of 10 minutes to prepare Brisket for turn in, then committee member will seal container for the team to turn in to judging area. If container arrives at judging area with broken seal, entry will be automatically disqualified. 2. Supply enough beans, chili and contest meat for 12 judges. Meat should consist of 12 individual pieces. No meat will be cut at the judges table. 3. Contestants are responsible for bringing all entries, except Margaritas, to the judging area, in the judging containers 15 minutes prior to judging time. 4. The judges for this event are outsourced and impartial to any teams or affiliation with any teams. No teams will be asked to supply judges. 5. Be reminded that each booth space is eligible to turn in 1 entry per category, up to 2 spots only. Brisket - (If you have 1 spot, 2 tagged, 1 turn in...2 spots, 4 tagged, 2 turn in). If you have more than 2 spots, this does not allow for extra turn in s. Only 2 turn in s per team will be allowed in all categories. Please review all category rules. 1. Welcome teams 2. Hand out judging containers Event Cookers Meeting Thursday 7:00 pm held at stage
3. Highlight rules, and answer questions 4. Let the Party begin! Category Specific Rules Margaritas Thursday 8:30 pm 1. Only ONE Entry per team regardless of number of spots 2. Requires Team entry sign up at Thursday cookers meeting to participate. At which time you will be given a turn in time for your Margaritas at a designated turn in site. 3. Make your Margaritas anyway you like. 4. Margaritas will be judged on originality, texture, aroma, and taste. 5. Prepare Margaritas for four Judges, judging will begin at 8:30 pm. until all entries are judged Chili Turn in time Friday 11:30 am 6. Cook your Chili any way you like. Beans and fillers may be added. Chili should be 2 alarm or less. No Habanero or Ghost peppers please. 7. Due to the container used for chili judging, no garnishments are to be added to your entry. Your chili entry will not be scored on presentation. 8. Chili will be judged on originality, texture, aroma, and taste. 9. Chili is to be turned in, in the container furnished with lid sealed. No foil please.
10. Each contestant is responsible for turning in his or her entry to the judging area in the designated containers 15 minutes prior to judging time. Allow enough chili for 12 judges. Beans Turn in time Friday 1:00 pm 1. All contestants must start with dry beans. No meat to be turned in with beans. 2. Cook your beans any way you like. 3. Beans are to be turned in using the containers furnished with lid sealed. No foil please. 4. No garnishments should be used due to containers used for turn in. Presentation will not be judged. 5. Beans will be judged on originality, aroma, texture, and taste. 6. Each contestant is responsible for turning in his or her entry to the judging area in the designated containers 15 minutes prior to judging time. Allow enough chili for 12 judges. Desserts Turn in time Friday 3:00 pm 1. Teams should prepare enough dessert for 12 judges. 2. Any preparation may be done ahead of time and brought to cook-off 3. Desserts may be hot or cold 4. Dessert will be judged on appearance, taste, and presentation 5. No jello shots 6. Dessert scores will not be counted in scoring for overall trophy
Chicken Turn in time Friday 4:30 pm 1. All contestants must start with raw dry chicken. 2. Chicken will be judged on appearance, presentation, texture, and taste. 3. No Garnishments shall be added to meat presentation. Turn in meat only. 4. All chicken entries must have a half chicken presentation with 12 individual white breast meat, bite size pieces for judging. 5. Each contestant is responsible for turning in his or her entry to the judging area in the designated containers 15 minutes prior to judging time. Allow 12 individual cut pieces. Chef's choice Turn in time Saturday 11:00 am 1. This is an open category, an opportunity for your Chef to shine as a master of the pit. (Almost anything goes, as long as it is a meat or seafood cooked on pit or grill). However, you should be sure not to turn more than 1 food item (example; a meat and lobster would be 2 items, meat mixed or stuffed with crab meat/lobster would be 1 item, a sauce with toppings such as mushrooms/crabmeat/shrimp/etc. on meat or fish would be consider 1 item). It should be clear to our judges, what is to be judged. 2. Garnish, season and decorate as you wish. Again, no hot peppers or overly hot spices please. 3. Entries will be judged on aroma originality, presentation, and taste. 4. Each contestant is responsible for turning in his or her entry to the judging area in the designated containers 15 minutes prior to judging time. Your presentation needs at least 12 individual samples that do not require cutting to be judge. Pork Ribs Turn in time is Saturday at 1:00 pm 1. All contestants must start with raw dry ribs. St Louis Style.
2. Ribs will be judged on appearance, presentation, texture, and taste. 3. No garnishments will be permitted. Turn in Meat only. 4. All entries must have 12 individual cut ribs. 5. Each contestant is responsible for turning in his or her entry to the judging area in the designated containers 15 minutes prior to judging time. Allow 12 individual cut ribs. Brisket Turn in time Saturday at 3:00 pm 1. All briskets must be raw and dry, unseasoned and not marinated, in original package prior to being tagged on Thursday evening. A committee member will tag your briskets after the cook s meeting. 2. Two briskets may be tagged per spot and one brisket may be turned in per spot. 3. All briskets are to remain uncut until a committee member comes to your cooking booth, checks your tagged brisket and witnesses the cutting of your brisket. You will be given 10 minutes to cut and prepare your entry for turn in. 4. No garnishments will be allowed. Meat turn in only. 5. Briskets will be judged on appearance, smoke ring, texture, and taste. 6. All entries must have 12 individually cut pieces for judging. 7. The committee member who witnesses the preparation of your brisket entry will seal the container so the team can proceed to the judging area. If container arrives with a broken seal it will be disqualified. Showmanship Throughout the Event 1. Showmanship will be judged throughout the event on how your team represents you towards others. (You may have the nicest site, but if your action show different, then your loss).
2. Teams Theme on originality, appearance, cleanliness, sportsmanship, and hospitality. Double Blind Judging For Beans, Chili, and Meat Categories Containers will be affixed with two matching tickets. One ticket will remain attached facing towards the container and the other one will be detached, signed and kept by the head cook. Winners will be announced during the awards ceremony when the ticket number from the winning container is read aloud. You must have the matching number ticket to be the winner. Be sure that you have your ticket before turning in your containers. Containers may not be retrieved once turned in for judging.