Complaint in court after June event leaves participants unpaid
Nearly two months after the inaugural Fire in the Valley barbecue competition, some participants are fed up with waiting for money they say they’re owed from the June 3-4 event.
Mike Andrews, a local musician and member of The Power Players, has filed a civil claim demanding $2,000 from one of the event’s organizers, Callie Lecompte, for failure to pay. He’s set to appear Wednesday morning before Judge Lila Statom in Hamilton County General Sessions Court.
“She’s going to pay,” said Andrews. “She totally just screwed me over.”
Lecompte on Thursday declined comment, referring all questions about the competition’s payments to co-organizer Eric McRoy. “I am still under a doctor’s care,” Lecompte said. McRoy could not be reached Thursday for comment.
Lecompte has said she is suffering from injuries sustained in a car accident during the event. A crash report filed by the East Ridge Police Department states LeCompte rear-ended another car on June 4, and the incident resulted in no injuries.
The barbecue competition, initially pitched by Lecompte and McRoy as an event to support schools in Red Bank, brought participants from across the state, but everyone from competitors to musicians and caterers say their pay went up in smoke. The organizers said the event was too large for Red Bank, and it was held in East Ridge at Camp Jordan.
Participants were required to pay an entrance fee in addition to shelling out their own cash for ingredients, equipment and whatever travel expenses they incurred, for a chance at the thousands of dollars in prize money.
Andrews said it costs real money to put a show together, especially since some of the band members had to travel from Nashville. He said he also charged the organizers only $800 because it was an event to benefit students.
“I gave her that deal under the impression that we were going to do something for the kids,” he said.
“Will I ever see a dime? I doubt it,” said Patrick Banks, one of the competitors who placed in the barbecue event.
Banks said he is owed $4,500 for winning, but he’s also starting to give up hope that he’ll ever be paid his due.
“It’s been stall tactic after stall tactic after stall tactic,” he said. “The whole event was a complete sham.”
According to competitors and others who say they are owed money, the organizers have sent infrequent emails to explain the situation, most recently to say an insurance company would be handling payments.
Terri Myers of Double Portion Catering said Lecompte has worked for years as a wedding planner and the two have each other on speed-dial. She is also owed more than $1,000 for her work at the barbecue competition.
“She won’t answer my calls either. Or my texts,” she said. “I’m really surprised that this has happened, and I don’t understand it.”
As the bill goes unpaid, Myers is tacking on a monthly late fee of $50, but she said she’s never known Lecompte to fall out of touch or not pay.
“She’s avoiding me, and that’s a bad sign,” she said.
Myers said she wishes the organizers would reach out and explain what’s going on, even if takes a couple of months to get paid.
“If they would just get me on the phone I would give them the opportunity to make it right,” she said.