A planned Bud and Burgers fundraiser for the Columbus Main Street Association has been canceled.
Meridian-based Mitchell Distributing had planned the event for Saturday evening at the Columbus Riverwalk. It invited restaurants and homecooks to assemble for a burger cooking competition for a $25 entry fee. The public could pay $5 per person to sample burgers from the competition, and Mitchell Distributing planned to have soft drinks and Budweiser products available for purchase.
However, Main Street Executive Director Barbara Bigelow said only three cooking teams signed up by Wednesday’s deadline, and a Mitchell representative emailed her last week to officially cancel the event.
“We’re disappointed, but we totally understand,” Bigelow told The Dispatch on Monday. “We’re honored they wanted to come to our community, but you can’t have a cook-off with three teams.”
Bigelow said the beverage distributor had launched successful Bud and Burgers events in Meridian and Tupelo, even with $50 fees for cooking teams to compete and $10 public admission. Main Street employed its usual multi-platform marketing strategy to get the word out, she said, and Mitchell advertised the event, as well.
“I don’t know if it was just the timing,” Bigelow said. “Maybe people thought it would be too hot.”
There was plenty of verbal interest from the public, she added, leading her to believe it would have been well attended. She said entertainment had also been booked.
Anna Grace Ward, communications manager for Mitchell Companies, did not return calls and messages for comment by press time.
Local real estate agent Colin Krieger will try to salvage what he can of Bud and Burgers, although on a much smaller scale.
He will host three cooking teams — including two that had signed up for Bud and Burgers and one that had not — for a competition Sunday evening at his home on the 500 block of Eighth Street North. The cook-off will begin at 4 p.m., and the public is invited.
Krieger said he won’t charge admission for his event, but there will be a donation jar for Columbus Main Street. He’s encouraging everyone who wants to attend to bring their own food and beer.
“I think it’s important to do this for the community,” he said. “We’re doing the best we can. (Bud and Burgers) was a good idea, but it just didn’t catch on.”
Columbus Main Street coordinates several events each year to promote downtown businesses, including the Art Walk, Sounds of Summer and the Market Street Festival.
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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