Wrangler B.B. Palmer doesn’t have a chuck wagon but he has cowboy boots and that’s enough to qualify him to enter the Chuck Wagon Cook-Off at Burning Bush Cowboy Church next to Cattleman Park on Saturday.

Chuck wagons from North Alabama and Mississippi will roll in early Saturday morning to compete in the Burning Bush Cowboy Church’s first Chuck Wagon Cook-off.

“A chuck wagon cook-off is like stepping back into the Old West,” Palmer said. “You can’t buy food as good as what’s cooked over an open fire. There’ll also be good music and great fellowship, just like on those cattle drives across the Old West.”

Palmer learned Dutch oven cooking years ago from a friend in Colorado who had a chuck wagon.

“My friend asked me to help him out at the Pike’s Peak or Bust Rodeo and we fed a whole bunch of folks the traditional Chuck Wagon meal – stew, potatoes, beans, biscuits and dessert,” Palmer said. “On Saturday, I’ll cook on a 55-gallon drum and I’ll have a stew made from ground beef, cornbread and a cobbler. That’s what the cowboys will be cooking at all the chuck wagons.”

Palmer said the public is invited to come out enjoy the atmosphere of a chuck wagon cook-off, applaud the winners and then stay around and chow-down.

Each chuck wagon crew will cook a stew, cornbread and a dessert and for a donation, the folks can sit down and eat with the cowboys, Palmer said.

Alvie Walker, Burning Bush Cowboy Church pastor, said a lot of people have never seen a chuck wagon and never had a meal prepared by cowboys over an open fire.

“We invite everyone to come and enjoy the Chuck Wagon Cook-Off and the other activities we have planned,” he said. “It will be fun day and we are looking forward to our first Chuck Wagon Cook-Off and all the fun that is a part of an event like this.”

The Cook-Off will begin around 8 a.m. with a winner declared around noon. There will be live music throughout the event that includes The Shepard Family, Tommy and Tina Mann and The Garners.