Look for the Best Dam BBQ Cookoff to be featured on Pepsi cans sometime this spring.
The West City Village Board of Trustees voted 6-0 Monday to pay the soft-drink company $1,500 for advertising services for the cookoff, scheduled for July 3 at the Rend Lake Dam.
"It's a pretty good deal for $1,500," said West City Mayor Charles Cockrum, who is one of the organizers of the Kansas City BBQ Society-sanctioned event.
Cockrum said 1 million soda cans with Best Dam BBQ Cookoff artwork on the back will be printed. Each can will be good for $2 off the $5 cost for parking.
"Marion Pepsi services and delivers to Central Illinois and down to Paducah, and basically river to river," Cockrum said. "They will be dispensing the soda, along with any fliers or banners. Also, two or three weeks before the event, their 30-second commercials will be used to advertise the event."
Cockrum said nine teams have registered so far for the cookoff, which will precede the annual Rend Lake Fireworks event on July 4.
"There will be a ton of people here strictly for this barbecue," West City trustee Darren Romani said.
Further information on the cookoff can be found online at http://bestdambbqcookoff.weebly.com.
West City, Ill. —
