Category: From the President

President Harry Faircloth

Hello to all of The Georgia Barbecue Association members and guests.

We have just finished our election process for the 2013-2015 cook years. I am very proud to tell you that we have a highly qualified slate of officers to run the Association for the next two years.

Mr. Danny Meadows will be your President. He has a list of qualifications from Jackson to Brunswick.  He has years of experience as an organizer, an event co-coordinator, a judge and cook.  Believe it or not he can cook!

Mr. Jim Sewell will be your Vice President. Jim runs our web site and does an outstanding job.  I can’t begin to tell you how helpful he has been to me the past several years. He also is an event organizer, judge and cook but not competition. However Lucy, his wife, says he can cook up some pretty fair bbq himself.

Mrs. Pam Nelms will continue to be your Secretary Treasurer.  Pam has worked very diligently the past years to help grow our trained judges. She and her husband, our past Vice President Jimmy Nelms. have done a great job of running our judges training classes.  Pam will continue to handle our communications with the members as needed. And, she is also the lady that collects your dues—-if you haven’t paid yours yet you need to do so.

As my farewell is at hand, let me tell you it has been a heck-of-a-ride!  I can’t begin to thank all of you that have supported The Georgia Barbecue Association and have gone out of your way to help us grow and become more successful.  It is really good to see many of our contests are increasing their pay-outs, some as high as $10, $12 and $13,000.00.  As these pay-outs have increased, of course, we have had more pit masters come on board.  Teams from Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama and even from as far away as Texas and Iowa have competed in our events just this year.

We have some very fine judges in our stable now and they know their “stuff”. They will give you fair and honest scores.  Every contest brings a different set of qualified judges to different tables. I have monitored tables and I see some outstanding scoring by our judges.

I ask that you support your new slate of officers and give them the same support you have given me. Lets make this next year more successful by working hand-in-hand –, judges, cooks and EVERYBODY.  Don’t forget to communicate with the Board of Directors so they can get a better feel for what is going on. Always feel free to make suggestions. They do listen.

Farewell and welcome onboard Danny, Jim and Pam.

A Message from President Harry Faircloth

On behalf of GBA Board Chairman Rick Godfrey and myself,  we want to thank everyone who h has voted in our election for officers for 2013-2015.  If you have not voted, there is still time. You have until Friday, August 5 to cast your vote.  Voting will end at midnight Eastern time.

We have some very fine candidates who have stepped forward and accepted nominations to serve as a GBA officer. They have accepted a two year commitment to serve our organization. Please take a couple of minutes to vote for the candidates of your choice.   Thank you.

Harry Faircloth, GBA President and Rick Godfrey, Chairman of Board of Directors.

To All Georgia Barbecue Association Members

Subject: The election of officers for the 2013-2015 cook season. This IS a two year term.

Nominations will begin June 10, 2013. Any member in good standing can be nominated for the office of President, Vice-President or Secretary. You must first ask the person you nominate if they are willing to accept your nomination.
After they agree then you will contact Pam Nelms at gabbqassoc@gmail.com and make your nomination. Nominations will close at midnight on June 31, 2013.

Voting will begin on July 8, 2013. You will go to the Georgia Barbecue Association web site at www.bbqga.com On the front page click on the link: “GBA Elections” and follow the instructions. Your ballot will REQUIRE that you enter your GBA member #, so have it handy. Use of the membership # is to insure only one vote per member is cast. To maintain confidentiality of the vote, only two people will have access to the ballots. Voting will end on August 5th 2013.

The new officers will be notified around August 12th so they can begin preparations to take office at The Georgia Barbecue Association State Championship, The ComSouth Hambone Jam, in Ft Valley Georgia on September, 6th & 7th, 2013.

There are several things to remember:
If you are a member of a cook team, you can not cook with that team for the duration of your office. If you are a judge, you can not judge for the duration of your office.

The office of President and Vice-President will require fielding many inquires about cooking competitions. It requires you to visit locations for potential new contests and speak to event organizers and/or sponsors.

The President or Vice President will determine if a new location has a site suitable to host a GBA contest. ie: do they have adequate water, electricity etc.

Other duties include organizing schedules so that you don’t schedule too many events in a month or in conflict to other association’s events that may hurt your schedule.

The President will assign Lead Reps and supporting staff in a manner that is in the best interest of the GBA and the event.

It is important that your elected officers are in attendance at all sanctioned GBA events whenever possible.

This is not all of the demands of these offices, but these are some of the more important ones and should be carefully considered when making or accepting a nomination.

If any one has any questions regarding the election process or and duties of the officers, please do not hesitate to give me a call @ 478-731-0145.

Harry Faircloth, President
The Georgia Barbecue Association, where
It’s All About The Taste!