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Home My WebLink AboutHOT ROCKS COOK-OFF Meeting NotesHOT ROCKS COOK-OFF PLANNING MEETING NOTES September 21, 2010 Present: Dr. Alston Thoms, Event Leader a-thoms@tamu.edu; 862.8541 Laura O’Halloran, Event Coordinator l.short1230@gmail.com Anne Boykin, City of CS Liaison aboykin@cstx.gov; 764.3491(w); 450.3296(c) Eric Hurt, CSFD ehurt@cstx.gov Mark Suter, Event Participant marksuter@library.tamu.edu Event Dates: Friday, October 29, 2010 through Sunday, October 31, 2010. Event Location: American Pavilion, kitchen and surrounding grounds, Veterans Park and Athletic Complex Schedule of Presentations: The annual Hot-Rocks Cook Off at the Brazos Valley Veterans Memorial Park in College Station, Texas features Native American earth-oven cookery and stone boiling through demonstrations and scientific experiments. This year’s events include construction and use of earth ovens with rock heating elements to bake starch-rich plant foods for 20 hours and fructan-rich (a non-reducing sugar) plant foods for 40 hours. Another set of demonstrations depict the stone-boiling of acorns and other nuts to extract nutrients. Still others demonstrate traditional method of fire-making, meat drying, arbor building and bowl burning. Events open to the public are: Friday - 4:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.: Material gathering; firing; loading earth ovens for 102 days of baking; various living-skill demonstrations Saturday – 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.: stone boiling; displays of traditional items; opening of the oven for starch-rich plants Sunday - 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.: stone-boiling; displays of traditional items; opening of the oven for starch-rich plants. Mark Suter will be on hand through the weekend for rabbit sticks and atlatl demonstrations, as well as fire making, bowl burning, meat drying, arbor building, and natural foods walks. Emergency Phone Number: 9-1-1 Non-Emergency Phone Numbers: 764-3600 (Police); 764-3700 (Fire) Participants: Texas A&M University faculty and graduate students Texas State University faculty and graduate students Tribal representatives Apache Tribe of Oklahoma Caddo Nation Comanche Nation Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma Mescalero Apache Tap-Pilam, Coahuiltecan Nation Tonkawa Tribe of Oklahoma Wichita and Affiliated Tribes General Public Sponsors: U.S. Army Fort Hood, Cultural Resources Program City of College Station Parks and Recreation Department Prewitt & Associates, Inc. Cultural Resources Services Faculty and students with the Departments of Anthropology at Texas A&M University and Texas State University Veterans Park Facility contact: Paul Rucker 764.3792; 764.3668 PARD Office contact: 764.3486 PARD Supervisor contact: David Gerling 764.3730, 777.2411(c) Veterans Park details: See this web page for more detailed park rules: http://www.cstx.gov/index.aspx?page=1265 PARK RULE: There is a park curfew from 1:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. During this time, the gates at either end of the park will be closed and locked. Emergency personnel have access. NO glass containers! Set up a time to get a water faucet key from Paul Rucker. Camping: Students will be camping along the tree line. PARK RULE: Alcohol may be consumed in city parks by adults 21 years of age and older. If alcohol is served, nothing can be sold without first obtaining a TABC license. There are to be no individual campfires. One large fire circle is proposed and awaiting approval from PARD. Showers will be available Friday evening, Saturday morning and early evening at Thomas Pool. (Times to be determined by Laura.) Bring your own towels and soap. A park attendant will be there to unlock and lock up. Kitchen: There are no utensils, coffee pots, or other small appliances. If you rent a pavilion with restrooms or kitchen facilities, a check-in time for key pick-up and return will be set up. There is ice available in the facilities building on Friday or Saturday, not Sunday. Questions: Can the pavilion tables be moved to the cooking area? Can PARD provide us with temporary short fencing to surround the cooking/research area? Can PARD clear a fire ring for us? Can we drive on the back paths to gather the fire wood? Can we bring in supplies to the kitchen on Thursday evening? Can some of the early arrivals camp beginning Thursday evening? Where do we get the trash cans and trash bags for the area outside of the pavilion? Note: If the county enacts a burn ban, it will be announced on a Tuesday.