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President Teresa Milano, tmilano@nebs.org Treasurer Chris Clegg, cclegg@nebs.org Recording Secretary Kim Stanfield, kstanfield@nebs.org 679 Washington St.; Unit #8-170; South Attleboro, MA 02703 Vice President Tom Ryan, tryan@nebs.org NEBS Board of Directors Michael Strout Peter Kelleher Jim Morey Craig Kimberley Mike Leger Anthony Mardenly Alex Burke www.nebs.org Brookline Cookoff By: Andy King At a cookoff 14 years ago, I was approached by Sheryl and Charlie Corey of the Brookline New Hampshire Fire Department (BFD); they wanted to hold a BBQ Cookoff to raise funds for their de- partment and to have some fun. However, I had to tell them that the date they wanted was only 6 weeks out, and there was already a con- test in Maine that weekend. Within five seconds, someone walked up to me and said “Bad news Andy, the Maine con- test has been cancelled.” I turned back to Sheryl and Char- lie and said, “Let’s talk!” I had been toying with the idea of running a series of small contests to go along with the larger events we had in New England. So, I ran the idea by them and then also sought and received NEBS’ approval and the NEBS Tailgate Series was born! With only six weeks to get it together, we managed to get 21 teams to compete; the first Brookline BBQ Cookoff was a success! The next year, we had an issue with the scoring software we had been using from another sanction- ing body and we ended up scoring the contest with pencil and paper. While this method was not ideal, we had to make do and made it work. This is just one of many examples of the obstacles NEBS faced with the Cookoff. Over the years, the cookoff has been quite successful for the BFD and very popular amongst the competition teams. In fact, a lot of teams have started out at Brookline and have moved on to bigger and better events like competing in the entire Tailgate Series. Many friends have been made at the Brookline Cookoff over the years and the members of the BFD have become very good friends of mine, as well as of many of the BBQ teams. In addition to the cookoff, the BFD have hosted nu- merous cooking and judging classes which has helped NEBS tremendously; the hospitality that BFD has shown the teams has been unsurpassed. Unfortunately, as all good things must come to an end, BFD has decided that this was the last year of their event, as they move on to different ways of fund-raising and spending their time. After 14 years, we say to the Brook- line Fire Department “Thanks for the Memories!” NEBS Feeds Veterans On Saturday, June 22, 2019, NEBS, along with other volunteers, served residents of three different Veterans Homesteads in central Massachusetts. NEBS and others set up our base camp at Camp Collier in Gardner, where we did our prep and cooking. We then split up into groups and set out to the different facilities. In all, we fed 60 folks that day. The veterans and volunteers alike all had a great time, and the food was well received and greatly appreciated. Volunteers all agreed that the best part of the day was the time spent interacting with the veterans and sharing conversation with one another. Thanks to all who helped and donated their time and product, and NEBS looks forward to doing this again next year! For more information, visit: veteranshomestead.org. BarbecueNews.com - 16 SEPTEMBER 2019