BBQ Lovers Chew the Fat on Internet
June 20, 2007
By CAROLINE KLAPPER
Index-Journal Staff Writer
GREENWOOD, SC - For just about anyone with a computer, the Internet is a huge source of information, but it's a great way to communicate, too. And word is getting out about the South Carolina Festival of Discovery in Greenwood among the many blogs and message boards of competitive barbeque Web sites.
|
A big part of the festival is the barbeque contest, which attracts competitors and tourists to the area. Uptown Greenwood Development Corporation executive director Angie Jones said sources such as Internet blogs are already bringing more people to the festival's Web site.
"The Internet has become one of our greatest promoters," she said. "The word of mouth advertising we've received from the blogs and message boards has been very helpful." |
 |
Many of the blogs and message boards have links to the Festival of Discovery Web page, and the increased traffic is coming from those links.
The Festival of Discovery July 12-14 is a weekend of food, music and fun wrapped around the history of the Greenwood area, the Upstate of South Carolina and the entire state. Visitors can learn about the history, traditions, and folklore, arts and crafts, music and dance and culture.
Last year about 10,000 people attended the three-day festival.
"A lot of the teams will use blogs as a way to communicate between one another or to find out about particular contests in an area," said Jones.
No one knows how much blog and message board talk can help to advertise a contest more than Rusty Painter of Laurens. He's a member of the Monkey Boys BBQ Team and is a certified Kansas City Barbeque Society judge, but he is also the forum administrator at www.scbbqtalk.com, a Web site dedicated to talking about barbeque events going on in South Carolina and the surrounding regions.
The site has been up for about three years, and Painter said it's a great place to find or share information about any barbeque events in South Carolina.
"Especially for smaller contests and smaller towns they may not have the big advertising budget," he said. "You can go on sites like mine and advertise your event."
Many competitors aren't aware of smaller contests until they visit sites such as www.scbbqtalk.com, and Painter said he thinks having information on the Internet helps to increase attendance.
"A lot of people don't know about these events but because of my board and boards like them, you decide to compete," he said.
"Hopefully it makes a bigger and better event next year."
The www.scbbqtalk.com site gets about 2,000 hits a month, which makes it a valuable resource for events like the Festival of Discovery.
"I know a lot of my members are planning to compete (in the Festival of Discovery), either compete or judge," Painter said. "I was going to compete in it, but I'll probably be judging it."
The message boards from other Web sites have drawn people from around the country to sign up for the Kansas City Barbeque Society judging class. The Big Green Egg Web site at http://www.biggreenegg.com/archives/2007/index.shtml in particular promoted the class, Jones said, which will bring many KCBS students and their families into town.
The class filled up within days after an announcement about it was posted on the Green Egg site, and Jones said she knows that one person is coming all the way from Arizona for the class as a result of reading about the blog.
On the National Barbeque News Web site at http://www.barbecuenews.com the Festival of Discovery is being talked about and several teams have chimed in to promote the barbeque contest.
"Wouldn't miss this one for the world!" wrote "Double D" of Team Divine Smoke of Greenwood, winner of the competition's People's Choice Championship last year.
There's some friendly competition between returning teams because "Rub" of the Swamp Boys BBQ Team replied to Double D's comment with, "I want my People's Choice Championship back!!"
The public coming to taste the barbeque will have to decide on the winner of that contest, but Web sites promoting the competition are sure to help in making the Festival of Discovery a winner for Greenwood each summer.
For information on the festival, visit http://www.festivalofdiscovery.com.