ROBERTSON COUNTY, Tenn.- One city's yearly BBQ festival has some competition as another organization has decided to hold a similar event on the same day.
There's not all that much to do in the small town of Orlinda, Tennessee. So, big events like a festival can really brighten things up.
"We wanted to establish a new festival that Orlinda could make part of our identity and make apart of ourselves," said Orlinda city manager Kevin Breeding. "We decided the best time for that was in Octobers, so six years ago we established something called, October in Orlinda."
In an area behind city hall, 800 to 1000 people come yearly to enjoy BBQ, live music, games and a beauty pageant.
"I can tell you we had 72 entries into the beauty pageant," said Breeding.
This festival is a huge fundraiser for the city that takes place the second weekend of October every year-- so it was surprising to Breeding when another organization in the county started holding a similar festival the same weekend.
Director of United Way in Robertson County Michelle Powell says its Big BBQ Bash; only 15 miles down the road in Springfield, is its biggest fundraiser.
During the event's 4th year she realized that the event has been scheduled on the same date as Orlinda's-- for the second time.
"I said I was very upset and distraught about it, because that was not our intention. That's not what we do here. We do not divide we are here to unite," said Powell
This year the Big BBQ Bash is tied to a national Bar-B-Que festival, so changing date is just too costly.
"It would cost us more money with fees and we would lose teams at this point," said Powell.
"They've taken our BBQ contest, they've taken our beauty pageant and most egregious of all, they have set all those events on our date, which is the second weekend in October. That's a date we have had for six years in a row without fail," said Breeding.
He says at this point, there is little that can be done other than changing dates and he just hopes next year is a different story.
The United Way says they hope the two festivals can come together and brand the events as, "A Day In Robertson County" where both festivals will benefit.
