LITTLE ROCK — Is it possible to be too successful?
Yes. Just ask the organizers of last year’s first World Cheese Dip Championship at Dickey-Stephens Park, the North Little Rock baseball stadium, which wasn’t quite large enough to handle the larger-than-expected crowd.
“We expected 3,000 people to show up, and we got 6,000,” explains championship event coordinator Robyn Madden.
As a result, there also wasn’t enough cheese dip to go around. Although the event was scheduled to run up to the 7 p.m. judging, a lot of the contestants started running out of dip by 3.
Lesson learned. The Southern Cheese Dip Academy has moved Saturday’s second annual championship to a little later in the day — 1 to 7:30 p.m. — and to a bigger location: AT&T Field at War Memorial Stadium, West Markham Street and Fair Park Boulevard, Little Rock.
Admission is $10 for adults, free for children 10 and under; proceeds benefit the nonprofit Harmony Health Clinic. You may also donate canned food at the gate for the Arkansas Food-Bank.
Call (501) 993-7502 or visit CheeseDip.net.
John McClure, a self-proclaimed compulsive eater of cheese dip, persuaded cheese dip maven Nick Rogers to create the championship last year after seeing Rogers’ documentary, In Queso Fever: A Movie About Cheese Dip.
Teams from around the country will be slinging dip in the competition for cash prizes and trophies.
A panel of local celebrities, politicians and food critics will handle the judging responsibilities through a series of blind tastings. The overall professional division champion will also have the chance to participate in the 2012 New Orleans Roadfood Festival.
Festival attendees will vote for People’s Choice Awards being bestowed by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and Sync.
Since the festival coincides with the Arkansas/ Alabama football game, which starts at 2:30 p.m., you’ll be able to watch the CBS broadcast, live from Tuscaloosa, on the stadium Jumbotron. At halftime, local celebrities will consume mass quantities of cheese dip in the inaugural World Cheese Dip Championship Chow Down, sponsored by the website Chicksandqueso.com.
In the stadium parking lot, the third annual Arkansas Boat & RV Super Sale will be showcasing new and used boats, recreational vehicles, motorcycles and allterrain vehicles, noon-7 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday. Admission is free.
Weekend, Pages 32 on 09/22/2011