Spread the love

Contributed

One of Elizabethtown’s iconic establishments is ramping up the excitement during the town’s 250^th Anniversary Homecoming Celebration on Saturday, November 11. Melvins’ Hamburgers and Hot Dogs, recognized as one of the top 100 best places to eat a hamburger in North Carolina, has announced an All You Can Eat Hamburger Contest for the afternoon of the event.

According to the organizers, Melvin is supporting two competitions: one open to all individuals over the age of 18 years old, and one that pits teams from the three local high school against each other. The events is schedule to take place at 2:30pm, right after the competition of the Boiled Peanut Eating Contest .

Contestants in the Individual Contest will have the chance to win $500. Registration is $15. Due to the high interest in this competition, prospective contestants must register for a lottery drawing with final contestants being drawn randomly on Tuesday, November 7. Register by calling the Elizabethtown-White Lake Area Chamber of Commerce at 910-862-4368 or by filling out the registration at https://forms.gle/JoujyB89zgwtpGU99

All three high schools in Bladen County have been invited to participate in the Team Eating Contest. Each high school team will consist of 5 members with a chance to win $500 for their school.

Rules of the competition are simple. Each contestant will have 5 minutes to eat as many plain hamburgers as possible. Eating meat and bun separate is not allowed. Every participant will begin with 10 hamburgers. If a participant finishes all ten hamburgers within 5 minutes, 5 more hamburgers will be provided. Utensils to cut hamburgers are not allowed; however, smashing hamburgers with hands will be allowed and hamburgers may be broken into smaller pieces. Two 32 oz cups of water will be provided for each participant. Hamburgers must be eaten completely and swallowed to count. Participants eating messy, where parts of the hamburgers do not make it into the participant’s mouth, will receive a yellow flag as a warning. Two yellow flags to the same participant will result in disqualification and will receive a total count of zero. Each participant will have a judge sitting in front of them to keep an accurate count.

The All You Can Eat Hamburger Eating Competition is just one of many contests to be held during the event. Other contests include whistling, hollering, corn shucking and boiled peanut eating. There will be music throughout the day. Check the full schedule of events at https://elizabethtownnc.org/visitors/250th_celebration/.