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There's Big Trouble Brewing Up North

by John J. Fanning

There’s some big trouble brewing up north.

Every year for more than 50 years, the city of Sheboygan, Wisconsin has hosted an annual Brat Days where a bratwurst-eating contest highlights festivities. Last year, on August 6th, 37-year-old Sonya Thomas from Alexandria, Virginia won the competition and set a new record by consuming 35 brats in just 10 minutes.

But now, a former city attorney in Sheboygan is asking that the contest be eliminated. According to an Associated Press report, 84-year old Clarence Mertz has stated that in his opinion, the entire brat-eating contest is “gross”. Mertz wants the issue put before Sheboygan voters in an advisory referendum.

Now before you make a hasty decision on whether Mertz could be right or not, it’s important to consider a few things about this contest. To begin with, the 2005 brat-eating contest was reported on by both ESPN and CNN. In fact, this contest is probably responsible for the most publicity the entire city of Sheboygan has ever received since 7-year-old Timmy Novotny crawled into a stuffed animal machine at a local Piggly Wiggly and had to be extracted by fire fighters in 2004.

Johnsonville Sausage Company is one of the co-sponsors of the brat-eating contest and they don’t intend to let Mertz have his way without a fight. Tom Wolff, a spokesman for Johnsonville said that the contest is one of the biggest draws Sheboygan has ever seen, attracting close to 2,000 visitors. The AP report also quoted Kim Swisher, the manager for Sheboygan’s tourism division as saying “anytime Sheboygan is on TV in regards to tourism and in a favorable light, that’s good for the community”.

The brat-eating contest is not the only tourist draw Sheboygan is counting on. They are also trying to raise funds to bring the USS Edson, a Vietnam era destroyer escort to permanent dockage in Sheboygan bay. They plan on turning the vessel into a museum and tourist attraction. An even more ambitious plan calls for Sheboygan to construct a $15 million dollar spaceport to launch rockets into space. This spaceport will compete directly with the UFO landing site, constructed in Poland, Wisconsin just 9 miles up the road.

When I first heard that someone was trying to do away with Sheboygan’s brat eating contest, I felt kind of sad. The first thing I pictured was a quaint little town hosting an innocent little contest for locals and tourists once a year; sort of like the old blueberry pie eating contests from years ago. I was also happy to see at least one city in the country trying to attract tourists without floating a tired idea like building a casino or buying some dinosaur bones. But as I looked further into the story, I discovered that in 2005, Sheboygan brought in some ringers for its brat-eating contest.

You might not know this, but there are professional eating contestants that travel around the country, eating food and making money at it. Sonya Thomas, the 2005 Sheboygan brat-eating winner is one of these professionals. Sonya has also won contests for eating Vienna Sausages, Asparagus, Baked Beans, Cheesecake, Chicken Nuggets, Chicken Wings, Crab Cakes, Hard-Boiled Eggs, Fruitcake, Hamburgers, Jambalaya, Lobster, Meatballs, Oysters, Pulled Pork, Quesadilla, Sweet Potato Casserole, Tacos, Ravioli and Turkey.

Sonya, who only weighs 105 lbs., travels throughout the U.S. entering into eating contests where she not only gets to keep what she eats, but also gets to take home prize money. Prize purses as large as $10,000 are being offered in some of these events.

Once I found out that there were professionals involved, the whole brat-eating event seemed to become less of a contest to me, and more like a spectacle. I started to wonder just how far we might go to professionalize what were, once upon a time, American traditions. A few years ago, I first heard of professionals being hired to trick-or-treat on Halloween. Professionals now cater to kids birthday parties. Fishing contests long ago went professional as did skateboarding, horseshoe tournaments and just about everything that the average American used to take part in on holidays in their hometowns.

I would hate to think that some average Joe could never again join in on a contest held on a July 4th weekend without risking the loss of his amateur status. I would hate even more to think that kids and adults might just stop joining in on local contests and become one more spectator, witnessing bizarre acts performed by paid professionals.

I can understand why Sheboygan wants to attract tourists to their city. But bringing in ringers to attract television news coverage of traditional local events just seems stupid, greedy, short-sighted and well-worth taking a pass on.

Read this and other America's Street Guides online at www.chiefengineer.org.

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