Darcy Wagon wins chuckwagon cookoff

The Darcy Wagon of McLean took home top honors during the seventh annual Col. Charles Goodnight Chuckwagon Cookoff last Saturday.

The cookoff, which benefits the Saints’ Roost Museum, was termed an unqualified success by museum board members. Tickets for the authentic Chuckwagon supper sold out, and officials estimate approximately 1,000 people attended the daylong event.

Breakfast and lunch concessions were provided by the Clarendon Chamber of Commerce. A trade show was held throughout the day, and live entertainment was provided by local and area talent.

Relatives of legendary cattleman and Chuckwagon inventor Charles Goodnight also were on hand for their annual family reunion.

A melodrama production, “He Ain’t Done Right By Nell,” presented by the Clarendon College Theatre Department was very well performed. The one-act play captured the attention of those in attendance with an old-fashioned story of good versus evil with the hero winning in the end.

A dance with music from the Palo Duro Band capped off Saturday’s activities.

A cowboy church service closed the cookoff on Sunday morning.

Fourteen wagons competed in this year’s cookoff and served a menu of chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, gravy, biscuits, beans, and cobbler. Prizes totaling more than $3,000 were paid out to the winners.

Complete results are as follows:

Overall Wagon & Cooking: 1) Darcy Wagon of McLean, 2) Adamah / J Bar D Wagon of Amarillo, 3) Double Diamond Wagon of Silverton, and 4) Quarter Circle KC Wagon of Lockney.

Best Meat: 1) Darcy, 2) Quarter Circle KC, 3) Noble Wagon of Wayland, and 4) Adamah / J Bar D.

Best Beans: 1) Break-Away Wagon of Stamford, 2) Childress-Encino Wagon of Ozona, 3) Ericksdahl Cattle Co. of Stamford, and 4) Quarter Circle KC.

Best Dessert: 1) Adamah / J Bar D, 2) Double Diamond, 3) McFall Wagon of Pampa, and 4) Noble.

Best Bread: 1) Darcy, 2) Double Diamond, 3) Childress-Encino, and 4) Break-Away.

Best Potatoes: 1) C.W. Walker Chuckwagon Gang of Lubbock, 2) Weems Cattle Co. Wagon of Amarillo, 3) Quarter Circle KC, and 4) Ericksdahl.

Overall Cooking: 1) Quarter Circle KC, 2) Darcy, 3) Adamah, and 4) Double Diamond.

Best Wagon Camp: 1) Darcy, 2) Adamah / J Bar D, 3) Double Diamond, and 4) McFall.

The Darcy team also won the cookoff in 1998 and 1999.

Other winners during Saturday’s activities were Wayne Heppard of Canyon, who won a pair of handmade boots by Jim Owens, and Cullin Hallmark, who won a cowboy hat from Luskey’s Western Wear.