Viva Las Vegas – Meridian-Style – Clifton Record Tribune

Bringing the bling: National Championship Barbecue Cookoff fundraiser offers fun time for funds at Meridian Civic Center turned casino

Viva Las Vegas, baby! Think sparkle, think Lucky ladies, think rolling the dice, think poker with a professional croupier and think of the ball in the roulette wheel before it comes to rest on the winning number, think endless evening entertainment with some great music. No flying to Vegas, Reno, Monte Carlo or Macau. Just a short drive to the Meridian Civic Center.

With their annual fundraiser the National Championship Barbecue Cookoff combined fun, food, festivities and “Rat Pack” music highlighting in a blingy affair Saturday night. Over 90 guests brought the bling, and emptied their money bags for the organization’s third annual, popular Casino Night. By purchasing more chips, the casino guests added to the funds raised through event ticket sales, and they kept the tables full, and the dealers busy.

In addition to buying raffle tickets, 52-card draw and the funny fund wins for an array of prizes, NCBC board member Todd Clift auctioned off two beautiful giclee prints by renowned area artists Martin Grelle and Bruce Greene.

“We were very pleased with the event,” NCBC board president Melba Catchings said. “Everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves.”

The National Championship Barbecue Cookoff in Meridian was initiated nearly 40 years ago in 1987 as a means to promote the communities of Bosque County, to bring in people from outside the county, raise money for local non-profit organizations and provide college scholarships for high school seniors.

Saturday’s fundraiser still focusses on those things, including covering the expenses to organize the cook-off and prize money. Matt Dikinson and Tristan Rusk supplied and grilled the succulent steak tips, while members from the Bosque Cowboy Church prepared the delicious Dutch oven peach cobbler.

Besides a blessing of the food, Cowboy Church pastor Tater Paschal prayed for the success of the fundraiser and its cause. Volunteers from the Bosque Emergency Support Team, this year’s non-profit beneficiary, helped serve the steak tip dinner and man the beer and wine bar.

Scholarship recipients in 2026 were Jasmin Brown of Meridian and Luz Flores from Cranfills Gap. The NCBC board is hoping to add a third scholarship for a graduating high school senior next year.

Hoping to attract more cookers and visitors to the event, the NCBC board made several changes for this year. By changing the event to the fourth weekend of September, the board hopes to avoid the rains – which negatively impacted the event in the past three years – and to avoid other planned cookoffs. By increasing the guaranteed prize money to $10,000, and supplying the beef tips for the People’s Choice, the board hopes to counter the ever-increasing meat prices. High gas prices will probably still be an issue for some cookers.

The NCBC board also enlisted Outlaw BBQ Association – the association that organizes the cookoff side of the event – to promote the Meridian event during other cook-offs and to commit to the NCBC being their only event on that particular weekend were other. Ensuring good music, a good People’s Choice and a car show during the event should draw a better crowd.

“It’s like farming and ranching,” NCBC board member Bubba Catchings said. “You do the best you can to benefit the most people.”

Everybody involved in the fundraiser, organizing the barbecue cookoff for months, getting the grounds ready and assisting during the cookoff, all selflessly donate their time, money and assistance to reaching the goal of supplying local charities with much needed extra funds.

And it is thanks to people in the community, table sponsors, prize and auction donors – all in name of altruism – that make this fundraiser and cookoff a success.