Ro Morse and Suzie Dawahare Coiner recently spent time reminiscing with Greg Dunker of WKYX, telling how they met and encouraged some key people to get involved.
Ro and Gary Morse were at 9th Street House having dinner when they overheard Suzie and Andrew Coiner talking at an adjacent table. Suzie was sad because the Memphis in May Barbeque Festival had declined to sanction her idea of a barbeque festival as one of their preliminary events.
Although she had never put together a barbeque festival before, Coiner had planned big events for her family's chain of Dawahare's clothing stores, and had lined up Player's Riverboat (now Harrah's) as a sponsor. They were going to let her use Bluegrass Downs as the festival site.
As Gary and Ro left the restaurant, Ro asked the hostess who the couple was and called Suzie at the Dawahare's store in Kentucky Oaks Mall the next morning. Morse was a former restaurant owner, and director of Paducah Tourism, and had completely different community connections than Coiner.
"When Ro called, literally, I said, 'Can you meet right now?' So, I think it took us fifteen minutes to hit the ground running," Coiner said. "We got in the car that day and we hit it off. We talked about how we could make it extra wonderful, and the words just evolved, and have stuck - like, 'A Community Charitable Event,' and 'A Tournament and Pig-Out,' and 'Barbequeing from Dawn until Dusk.' A lot of ideas were created in my car driving to Mayfield, to what was Seaboard Farms," Morse said.
The ladies went there to ask for a cash donation for their idea, but instead left with a promise that Seaboard Farms would provide chickens to cook. Morse called Joe Metzger about getting pork and they visited him that same day.
Morse said, "It was a whirlwind, but it was meant to be, and Suzie has taken it and run with it." The ladies worked together to organize the event for four years. Now Suzie works with David Boggs to make it a reality each year.
The silver lining for Coiner was the fact that Memphis in May didn't sanction her idea as an official preliminary event, because their festival is run very differently than Paducah's. "They don't sell to the public, and it's a ticketed event to get in there, which makes it different. So that allows us to raise funds for these different charities," Coiner said. Morse knew someone at the Health Department, and got information on how to create an environment where cookers could safely sell their meat to customers.
Those steps led to the first event with 12 vendors, including the cookers. Both ladies continued to tweak ideas, including Coiner's plan to use the horse track. Coiner's original intent was to have the barbeque festival at Bluegrass Downs. "I grew up going to a chili cook-off at our Red Mile in Lexington - and when Ro became involved with her tourism interest, and wanted it to be downtown, it was really the best decision, because it really opened that up, and it was just so great for the community and easy to get in and out," Coiner said.
Greg Dunker had his Weber charcoal grill on a red gravel parking lot with some co-workers in 1995, and was surprised to see people lining up at 10 am on Saturday morning for food from the WKYX-WKYQ booth. Now cookers are spending $40,000-60,000 for cooking equipment to serve food through a 3-day weekend, and there are 35 cookers and multiple other vendors. "And there is no festival without them," Morse said. "Suzie says it all the time - they are the festival - and thank goodness Suzie has stuck with it and carried it on through the years, because it's a natural."
The community immediately got behind the event, including Bristol Broadcasting, Co., WPSD Local6 and The Paducah Sun. The City of Paducah and other civic organizations were instrumental, too. After the first year or two, organizations and vendors have continued to flock to the event, and now everyone wants to be part of it.
Coiner said, "Because it's positive, other fabulous things have come to us." Judging the event is a serious matter, and the festival has developed its own judging system, complete with training sessions each year. Memphis in May still provides friendly guidance from time to time, but this festival is clearly its own event. As for the competition, both ladies agreed with Dunker's contention that everyone who cooks in the event knows how to seriously compete, but they also know how to keep it fun, and that's what the event is all about-serious fun! As their interview concluded, Morse thanked Coiner for keeping the event rolling, and taking it to a new level. "It was fun, Ro!" Coiner said. To which Morse replied, "It was, and still is!"
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FESTIVAL SCHEDULE
Saturday, September 27, 2014 - Lots of tasty barbecue and fixins' available at various food booths beginning at 11:00 am - Live entertainment on the Main Stage & the Farmers' Market stage in front of the Main Stage & Farmers' Market Beer & Wine Garden, which opens at 11:00 am and closes at 11:00 pm. United Way 5K Run 9:00 am - Race starts and finishes at Paducah Bank, 555 Jefferson Street. For more information visit www.unitedwaypaducah.org. Marine Industry Days 10:00 am 3:00 pm - Paducah Riverfront, Wilson Stage Area. Activities include public tours of a river towboat, the annual line throwing contest and displays of Maritime Equipment. Registration for Line Throwing Competition begins at 10:00 am with competition beginning at 1:00 pm This is a great opportunity for the general public to experience a slice of "LIFE ON THE RIVER" Note: The boat tours are subject to vessel proximity and availability. Meet Murray State Head Basketball Coach Steve Prohm 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm Visit the Murray State University booth at the corner of 2nd and Jefferson to meet Murray State University Men's Basketball Coach Steve Prohm Main Stage Entertainment - Master of Ceremonies - Mike Mallory 11:00 am - Allen Music Groove Academy (some of Paducah's most talented youth playing all genres of American Music) 12:00 pm - Washington Street Baptist Church United Voices (A gospel mix of Worship, Contemporary and Traditional) 1:00 pm - Genesis Ministries (Energetic Gospel Ensemble of Jazz, Contemporary, Praise & Worship) 2:00 pm - The McKendrees (Traditional Bluegrass) 3:00 pm - Hot Sauce (a mix of Classic Rock, Classic Country & Hot Sauce Blues) 4:00 pm - Awards Presentation 5:00 pm - Alonzo Pennington (Blues) 6:00 pm - Adam & The H-Bombs (Rock, Blues, Jazz & Funk) 6:30 pm - Abandon Jalopy, Featuring Brad Smith of Blind Melon (American Folk Rock) 8:00 pm - Adam & The H-Bombs 8:30 pm - Murmur (Modern Rock & Contemporary Pop) Farmers' Market Stage 6:00 pm - Gideon's Rifle (Acoustic Americana Folk) Non Food Vendors Open 9:00 am - 11:00 pm Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Performance and Photo Opportunity 10:00 am - 12 noon, 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm, 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm All four of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will be on hand to take part in a Martial Arts Performance in cooperation with Hwang's Martial Arts. Afterwards Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello & Michelangelo will stick around to take photos. This will all take place at the corner of Broadway and 2nd Street.
On the Net:
Festival websiteComplete interview from "The Greg Dunker Show"
