KY State BBQ Festival presents $20,395 Check to Heart of Kentucky United Way

On January 31, 2013, the Kentucky State BBQ Festival Committee presented a check in the amount of $20,395 to Heart of Kentucky United Way. The proceeds were raised from the Bourbon Barrel Art Project Auction and the 2012 Kentucky State BBQ Festival.

Attending the presentation on behalf of the Kentucky State BBQ Festival were Festival co-founders, Brad and Cindy Simmons, Bob Stovall and Myrna Miller as well as Bourbon Barrel Art Project Chairperson Susan Hensley and Maureen Loar. The check was presented to Heart of Kentucky United Way Executive Director Stephanie Blevins and Trina Kern.

Left to right: Brad Simmons, Stephanie Blevins, Cindy Simmons, Maureen Loar, Bob Stovall, Myrna Miller, Susan Hensley and Trina Kern.

“The Kentucky State BBQ Festival has been a wonderful partner for Heart of Kentucky United Way,” said Blevins. “The awareness and contribution to HKUW serves as an investment in our communities in education, income and health. Together we can transform our communities.”

Festival founder Brad Simmons added, “The Kentucky State BBQ Festival is proud to be a partner of Heart of Kentucky United Way, providing funding for their various community programs. We look forward to continuing this relationship at the 2013 Festival.”

Simmons and Blevins emphasized that both the Festival and the Bourbon Barrel Art Project couldn’t have happened without the generosity of sponsors and volunteers who gave to the projects.

Sponsors purchased the Bourbon Barrel Art Project barrels and the artists volunteered to decorate them. Other volunteers helped move them and ran the auction from start to finish. Food for the auction was donated by Festival Pitmasters. The barrels were donated by Jim Beam Brands.

The Kentucky State BBQ Festival relies on hundreds of volunteers in the days leading up to the Festival and on the Festival weekend itself to serve the 37,000+ attendees last September.