(EDITOR’S NOTE: Results are attached at the end of the story.)

It was just before 1 p.m. on Friday, and the streets of downtown New Iberia were already saturated with the scent of the wild game meats roasting in Bouligny Plaza.  

Eighteen teams were setting up and lighting the grills in preparation for the 15th annual Brudley’s Wild Game Cookoff. Gates were set to open at 4 p.m.

Kevin Foret was prepping, with a cold brew in hand, the cooking station for the Pipeline Environmental and Compression Industries team, out of Scott, which was competing for the first time.

“We’ve had several dealing with Brian (Ford, the chief operation officer of the Boys and Girls Club of Acadiana) before,” Foret said. “We give donations and work with the Boys and Girls Club quite a bit. It’s a way to help out the community,” he said.

Team PECI prepared a hearty deer chili for the event.

Across the Cookoff grounds, the Wild Boys and a Lady team were smoking meats in an old office filing cabinet. A flue-like vent was welded to the top of the cabinet, and each drawer had a false-bottomed metal grate. The bottom cabinet held the coals, and each ascending cabinet held a different meat.

“I saw this cabinet on Facebook,” Alex Raymond said.

“Someone in Miami had made one, and they were cooking a whole chicken. I said, ‘Man, I’ve got to make one of those.’ So I did,” Raymond said.

The team made wild hog jambalaya, wild fish courtbouillon and deer chili. The team won in 2015 for its smothered wild hog and deer, and in 2016 for its smothered raccoon.

A chance of rain threatened to alter the course of the Cookoff. The crew from Grilling with the Gurus, the KDCG-tv cooking show, was scheduled to give a cooking demo, but pulled out late last week because of the forecast.

Rains held off until 6 p.m., and passed quickly. At 9 p.m., a sizable crowd remained. An estimated 200 people attended the event.

Funds raised from the $20 tickets help fund summer and after-school programing at the Boys and Girls Club.

“This is the premier fundraising event for the Boys and Girls Club,” said the club’s CEO Brian Ford.

He said they can usually bring in about $30,000 from the event.

“I was director of the club 15 years ago, when this event got started. Brudley (Kibodeaux) was instrumental in getting this thing going,” he said, referring to the event’s namesake. Kibodeaux was a long-time public servant in New Iberia, involved in many civic and social groups, including the Boys and Girls Club. In 2007 he and his wife were killed by a drunk driver, and the event he helped start took on his name in his honor.

“We also really appreciate the city of New Iberia working with us on this,” Ford said. “They were really helpful, with logistics and everything.”

Following are the results from the Cookoff:

• Jambalaya &

Other Meats 

1. Knights of Columbus 

2. Wild Boys & A Lady

3. Cajun Computers 

• Dessert

1. Chef John’s Cajun Eats 

2. Jaycees Club

3. H&R Block

• Seafood

1. Wild Boys and a Lady

2. Chef John’s Cajun Eats

3. Onsite Odyessy

• Wild Game

1. Chef John’s Cajun Eats

2. Quarterback Club

3. Ragroux Q

• People’s Choice 

Little Cup of Tea