Cookoff draws big crowd

A new bar has been set after the 18th annual Col. Charles Goodnight Chuckwagon Cookoff attracted a huge crowd of participants and attendees last Saturday, and last year’s winning cookoff team left again with the bean pot.

Officials with the Saints’ Roost Museum, which sponsors the event, said Monday they fed more than 700 people, which is among the highest – if not the highest – in the cookoff’s history. By comparison, the museum fed 550 last year. The number of wagons was also up with 18 registered and 17 showing up to compete at the event.

“As far as I recall this is the best we’ve ever done,” said Museum Board Member Lindy Craft. “We had a lot of people from out of town, particularly Amarillo and Pampa, and we had a bigger trade show.”

Craft said the museum had only 90 tickets still available when the gates opened, and those were gone quickly. The event coinciding with Clarendon High School’s homecoming this year was also a plus as several class reunions were being held in town.

The C Bar C Ranch Team from Hartley gave a repeat of their 2011 performance by winning the cookoff for a second year in a row. Led by head cook Sue Cunningham, the team had the first place dessert as well as first place in Overall Cooking on the way to racking up enough points to win the Best Overall award.

The fifth annual Junior Cookoff the day before the big event drew eleven contestants, who were paired with experienced wagon teams to prepare potatoes for the cooks’ dinner Friday night. Darci Hunsaker from Clarendon won first place and was teamed with the JL Cattle Cooking Team. Emily Johnson of Clarendon was second with the T-Half Circle Cooking Team, and Hannah Hommel of Clarendon was third with the Palo Duro Cowboy Church Team.

Following the Junior Cookoff, 200 people enjoyed a delicious steak dinner Friday night on the museum grounds, 30 more than the year before. The invitation-only event was held exclusively for Chuckwagon teams and members of the Museum and their families.

The trade show was held throughout the day, and live entertainment was provided. Museum tours were led by the Clarendon High School Junior Historians. Relatives of Chuckwagon inventor Charles Goodnight also were present for their annual reunion.

The seventeen wagons served a menu of chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, gravy, biscuits, beans, and cobbler. Prizes totaling $3,250 were paid out to the winners.

Complete results were:

Overall Wagon & Cooking: 1) C Bar C Ranch of Hartley.

Overall Cooking: 1) C Bar C, 2) JL Cattle Co. of Abilene, 3) Cross Wagon of Vega, and 4) the T Half Circle Wagon of Silverton.

Best Wagon & Camp: 1) C4B Chuckwagon of Amarillo, TIE 2) Wagon Rangers of Amarillo, TIE 2) Quarter Circle KC of Lockney, and 4) C Bar C Ranch of Hartley.

Best Meat: 1) C4B, 2) JL Cattle, 3) Rafter B, and 4) Cross Wagon.

Best Beans: 1) T Half Circle, 2) JL Cattle, 3) Cross Wagon, and 4) C Bar C.

Best Potatoes: 1) Cross Wagon, 2) C Bar C, 3) Rising W Wagon of Happy, and 4) HX Ranch of Lubbock.

Best Bread: 1) Cross Wagon, 2) JL Cattle, 3) C4B, and 4) Cross Wagon.

Best Dessert: 1) C Bar C, 2) C4B, 3) Wagon Rangers, and 4) HX Ranch.

Kendall Harris of Wellington was the winner of the Kevin Johnson handmade spurs, and the Pearce Foundry West of Memphis again made the commemorative cast iron bean pot taken home by the cookoff winning team.