Photos From Krystal Square Off V Opening Ceremony Now On Flickr

The "humble" one was on hand to light the ceremonial Krystal Square Off Grill to kick off competitive eating's biggest event of the year.

Photos from the Opening Ceremony for the Krystal Square Off V World Hamburger Eating Championship are now posted on this site and our Flickr page. You can view them here (or slideshow here), or you can always click on the Flickr logo located in the far right column of this page.

The Opening Ceremony got underway yesterday on the footsteps of the Krystal Building in downtown Chattanooga, with Krystal’s Brad Wahl and George Shea of Major League Eating making introductory marks to kick things off. Shea then introduced competitive eating pro “Humble” Bob Shoudt, who tried on the World Championship belt for the audience (a jinx?) and then lit the ceremonial Krystal Square Off Grill.

With media outlets from across the Chattanooga area on hand to capture the Olympic-like spectacle, the Grill was paraded down Chestnut Street to the Riverfront, site of the World Championship on Sept. 28. The ceremony finally drew to a close with the Celebrity/Media Square Off, which was won by WDEF’s noon anchor Joe Legge. Read about that contest here.

Today’s action gets underway at 3:00 pm EST. Anyone interested in being one of the 5 random contestants selected right before the contest begins should register on site by 2:00 pm. Stay tuned to our Twitter feed and to this blog for all the latest from the Chattanooga Qualifier today.

Move Over Olympics, The Krystal Square Off V Opening Ceremony Is Here

WDEF noon anchor Joe Legge, seen above at last year's Krystal Square Off, may be messy but he won't be messing around at the Media Square Off this Friday.

Like the Opening Ceremony at the Olympics in Beijing, but without the fake fireworks, Birds Nest-looking stadium and thousands of green-glowing acrobats wearing adult diapers, Krystal will host the Opening Ceremony for the Krystal Square Off V World Hamburger Eating Championship this Friday in downtown Chattanooga.

The festivities will begin at 1:00 pm EST in spectacular style with the official lighting of the Krystal Square Off Grill on the steps of The Krystal Company headquarters, located directly across from the Sheraton Reed House Hotel. This will signify the beginning of this year’s Krystal Square Off Qualifying Tour and will be followed by the first ever “Running of the Grill” down Chestnut Street, complete with a police escort, parade of vehicles with local dignitaries, the Krystal cycling team on bikes and a host of Krystal employees.

The event is open to the public and all Chattanoogans are encouraged to come down and join the parade.

The procession will then end down at the Chattanooga Riverfront, site of the Chattanooga Qualifier and the World Hamburger Eating Championship. At 2:00 pm, Krystal’s VP of Marketing Brad Wahl and George Shea from Major League Eating will host a press conference to set the stage for this year’s contest, and immediately afterwards, Chattanooga’s most popular news personalities will square off for major bragging rights in a 2-minute Krystal burger bout.

Among those competing Friday will be Don Welch from WTVC, Mark Bruce from WRCB, Joe Legge from WDEF (check out his blog here), Jason Law from WDEF and Webb Wright from WDEF.

Of course, we’ll be covering the entire event here at KrystalSquareOff.com–snapping photos, shooting video, and Twittering away–so be sure to check back here for a recap and sign up for our Twitter feed so you can follow the action as it happens.