We are Cindy & Charlie Overton, and we are Professional Outdoor Cooks.  We are the founders and owners of Black Pot Demo’s, an outdoor cooking seminar and demonstration company located in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.        We originally got our introduction to Outdoor Cooking as  Adult Boy Scout Leaders when our youngest son Ryan became a Scout in 1995, and we both fell in love with the outdoor cooking concept and especially Dutch Oven cooking. Continuing with our activities in Scouting, our family found a mutual love for the outdoor and camping in general.  As we camped and cooked, we found out that we really enjoyed bringing the message of the Black Pot to those who did not yet understand the benefits of cooking in a Dutch Oven, or outdoor in general.   People where always asking, “What do you have cooking in those big black pots?”  Hence, the idea came to combine the love for outdoor cooking and teaching into a business, Black Pot Demo’s.  With the birth of the business, many opportunities soon arose for us to start conducting training seminars throughout the state.

In 2004 we joined the International Dutch Oven Society located in Logan, Utah and also began working with some close internet friends to form a local Chapter of the IDOS in the Upper Midwestern states.  Cindy is now the Director of the Northwoods Chapter of the International Dutch Oven Society, which covers all of Wisconsin, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and the Northern Tier of Illinois. 2005 started with a full schedule of training at many campgrounds in Wisconsin, along with seminars and demonstrations at some of the Wisconsin Sportsman’s Warehouses, and Minnesota Cabela’s Sport Stores. Along with our busy seminar/demo schedule, we also does trainings for youth groups, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, and Church groups. Cindy also does Private Chef work for groups of up to 400 people, and does all the cooking outside, no matter what the weather.  We currently have a trailer to haul most of our outdoor cooking equipment in that is currently being pulled by Cindy’s most favorite car Clementine, an orange 2004 Turbo Diesel Beetle.

In March of 2006, Cindy and her then 13 year old daughter Aimee traveled to Salt Lake City Utah to compete in their first ever Dutch Oven Cook-Off.  They chose to start at the top and are proud to say that they placed 9th in the World Championships against the best Dutch Oven Cooks in the country!

    In September of 2006, we saw the benefits of a 2 year effort to put together and host the 3 annual National Dutch Oven Gathering in Sturgeon Bay, WI.  This was the largest National Dutch Oven Gathering of its kind and had an attendance of over 300 Dutch Oven enthusiasts from 9 states and Canada.

     We currently travels across the Midwest to various sport stores teaching the employee’s about outdoor cooking, and outdoor cooking equipment, while still doing seminars and demo’s on the weekends.  Cindy holds a Wisconsin State Certification in Restaurant Food management, and we looks forward to expanding our teaching and cooking skills as we continues to learn from others. We firmly believes in our company’s motto of “Outdoor Cooking Made Fun!”, and hope to have and spread that fun throughout the country wherever we travels and teaches.