BELLE — The 40th Annual Kingsford Cook-Off took place June 22 at the Belle Fairgrounds with more than 35 competitors vying for trophies across three categories during the six-hour competition.

This year there were 37 registered entrants for the pork steak competition, 26 entries in the rib category, and six in the one-bite challenge. Judges for the event were Kelly Branum, Dallas Kinkead, Seth Klein, and Jay Green.

Kingsford began sponsoring the cook-off in 1984. Casey Schalk, Kingsford’s Learning Management Coordinator, is proud of the company’s work in partnering with the local community over the last 40 years to host the event. She also expressed gratitude to all involved in its success.

“I’d like to say ‘thank you’ to the Belle Fair for helping out and giving us a good spot every year, and to all the contestants that come out,” said Schalk. “I’d also like to thank Kingsford and all the people who have worked the fair. It’s all volunteer and it’s great that they have chosen to spend their time with us.”

Schalk had some interesting facts to share about the process of hosting a cookoff each year.

“Since 1984, Kingsford has donated 35 tons of charcoal to the event and 4,000 bottles of lighter fluid. Our employees have donated over 3,840 hours of fun to make this event run as smoothly as possible,” said Schalk. “We average 40 participants per year and, to my knowledge, only one person has been present for all 40 cook-offs.”

The first cook-off in 1984 began a legacy that has become synonymous with the Belle Fair and is highly anticipated by barbeque enthusiasts each summer. Many participants return year after year for the event. However, only one grill master, Ronnie Stockton, holds the honor of being competing in the event each year since its inception.

“The first one I think we had six or seven cookers and it was held over by the swingsets,” said Stockton. “It was the first time out. Back then, Kingsford brought in professional judges to judge everything. They did that for a few years.”

Stockton also remembers one time when a professional competitive grill master showed up to keep things fair.

“One year we had a professional griller here from up around Columbia. He only showed up to keep another guy from cooking,” said Stockton. “He was friendly and walked around visiting with people. He kept watching the road and someone pulled up in a white station wagon. This guy waved at him and lit his grill and the guy in the white station wagon took off.”

Stockton said as the deadline came and went, the grill master didn’t submit anything to the judges. When he was approached by Moose Doss, the coordinator at the time, and asked why he skipped the judging the man only asked if they would like a taste now that the competition was over.

“The judges each tasted his steaks and about five minutes later they asked him why he skipped the judging,” said Stockton. “They told him he would of had the winning steak if he turned in.”

The man said he was a professional competitor and a three-time Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS) champion, a three-time Memphis champion, and a Texas champion.

Stockton said, “He said he knew this other professional guy was coming and he wasn’t going to let him screw up a family affair on a small county fair. He said this is for family and friends. It isn’t for pro’s.”

Stockton is appreciative of Kingsford and the Belle Fair for creating something special and allowing people to come together to forge meaningful relationships.

“They gave me 40 years of friendship with people I never ever would have met. I’ve got to eat some of the best food on the face of the Earth, and I’ve had some that didn’t match up quite so high,” said Stockton. “The friendships and bonds you create with your fellow cooks are some of the best times you can get.”

Stockton didn’t place this year, but as always, the grill master’s barbeque brings an “mmm” to the tastebuds and still landed in the top ten best. The following local legends placed in the Kingsford Cook-off competition this year:

Winners in the pork steak division were Kirk Newbound in first place; Wyatt Heberle in second place; Chris Mistler in third place; and Macie Green in fourth place. Others who made the top ten in the category are, in no particular order: John Tackett, Ward Sooter, Michael Malome, Richard Doughten, Tim Scego, and Jeri Mistler.

In the ribs division, winners included Chris Mistler in first place; Collin Woodward in second place; Wyatt Heberle in third place; and Jeri Mistler in fourth place. Others who made the top ten in the category are, in no particular order: TJ Scego, Ward Sooter, Michael Malome, John Tackett, Grant Stockton, and Richard Doughten.

The winner of the One-Bite Challenge was Zech Moore.

Kingsford became part of grilling history in 1919 when Edward G. Kingsford, a real estate agent in Michigan, assisted Henry Ford in acquiring a stretch of timberland to supply wood for his automobile plants.

Ford found a way to monetize all of the wood waste generated by his sawmill and plants by using a new process for pressing blocks of reconstituted char. While the innovative charcoal briquette was initially marketed under Ford’s brand in 1920, it was eventually renamed Kingsford Charcoal in Edward’s honor.

Today, Kingsford converts more than one million tons of wood waste into charcoal briquettes every year, making it the leading manufacturer of charcoal in the United States with an 80 percent market share.

Belle is one of five Kingsford Charcoal Plant locations in the United States.