The Master Cucumberer

The Master Cucumberer is a title is bestowed upon the winner of an annual cucumber rating competition. Farmers can register for the event and present a select sample of their cucumbers. The cucumbers are graded by size, color, and taste and a winner is selected.
No formal grading system exists, the standard is created each year by the committee .  It is a subjective selection based upon the quality of the specific year's samples.  No minimum quality standards are applied, so that even in a bad season, a Master is chosen.

Appointment

A nine member panel of farmers and merchants are selected annually at random to inspect registered entrants and select the new year's Master.

Duties

None

Responsibilities

None

Benefits

Price and product placement of the season's cucumber crop. Regional notoriety and occasional free drinks at the local pub.

Accoutrements & Equipment

A unique badge for each competition year is created.  It can only be worn at official functions and sponsored events.

Grounds for Removal/Dismissal

A Master Cucumberer can be stripped of their title for Moral Turpitude.  No one, to date, has ever been stripped of their title.

History

Starting as a friendly competition between two brothers who focused their farms on growing cucumbers.  To help determine best pricing, they developed the title, which would shift arbitrarily between the two for ten years.  In public, the holder of the year's title, would be addressed by the other brother in public as such.  Over time, news of the existence of the title grew in the region and cucumber farmers from across the region began turning up to "call the brothers out" over the best cucumbers.  Seeing long term benefit of such a competition to promote cucumbers in general, the brother's agreed to organize an annual competition open to all comers.

Status

Annual and open to registered competitors who must be commercial farmers, not specialized or low volume hobbyists.

Form of Address

Master Cucumberer

Alternative Naming

Cuc, Big C, Master

Length of Term

Single year.