• There were lots of smiling faces and satisfied tummies by the end of BP BBQ Cook-off February 20, and lots of whoops and hollers from the winning teams. Good fun, good food, good music, good attendance – and all for a great cause.

NINE BBQ COOK TEAMS vying for Best Ribs, Best Brisket, People’s Choice and Best Team Spirit provide the food.

But the fun didn’t end there. Besides the friendly BBQ competition, attendees performed taste tests, while the children had their faces painting and played games. A four-piece band kept the toes tapping and the children dancing.

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More than 525 people attended the event, all for a good cause. The day’s activities raised $2,300 for Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo (HLS&R) scholarships.

“We had a great time even though we pulled this together in about five days notice and started with nothing but a smile,” says BP’s Chuck Cervas, a first-time BBQ cooker whose team won three awards including first place in the ribs category.

Other winners included the NAGP Road Kill Cookers (best brisket), HSSE 4 Aces Cookers (People’s Choice Award), Texas City Chemicals Activities Association (second-place ribs), Trinidad/Tobago Team (third-place ribs), and the Developmentally Defined Team from Gulf of Mexico deepwater development (third-place brisket).

Up all night

Some team members stayed up the night before to nurse their barbecue efforts, while others managed to get up early on Saturday in order to squeeze in the hours needed to cook the tasty barbecue. BP’s Mike Pritchett, lead process engineer and a member of the Trinidad/Tobago Team, stayed up all night and managed a one-word comment on how he felt Saturday: “Tired.”

Eve Tidwell, wife of senior financial analyst Kevin Tidwell, said, “Last year, we brought our girls, Zoe and Gemma, and had a great time. This year, Kevin convinced me to be a judge for the ribs contest, which was really fun.”

The BP BBQ Cook-off kicked off the BP’s Rodeo-related activities, all designed to promote team-building and networking while raising funds for the HLS&R scholarships.

Volunteers of the Year

Fourteen dedicated members of the Texas City Refinery BP Activities Association, led by BP’s John Amato, utilities project coordinator, prepared the fajitas and hot dogs. The cook team recently won “Volunteers of the Year” from United Way Galveston County Mainland.

In the 78-year history of HLS&R, $150 million has been given in scholarships to Texas youths. Although BP already is a Heritage sponsor of HLS&R, raising funds that go straight to scholarships to benefit local students is an added bonus.

BP’s Tim Jennings and his wife Abby are new to Houston and to BP since Tim started his job as a floating system engineer three weeks ago. Tim came to the festivities to spend time with his new co-workers. “Everything’s been amazing about the company so far,” says Abby.

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Event Date: February 20, 2010