The Festival Barbecue Competition has two parts:

a Judged Competition and a People’s Choice Vote from attendees.

Judged Competition

The teams consist of the Barbecue Food Vendors that are participating in the event. The teams compete in four categories:

Brisket

Pulled Pork

Chicken

Ribs

Entries are blind judged by a panel consisting of 4-6 trained barbecue judges. The Head Judge oversees scoring based on two criteria:

Taste / Flavor

Tenderness / Texture

Judging takes place on Saturday during the festival. The Grand Champion, and 1st-3rd Place Winners will be announced Sunday afternoon on the main stage between performances.

People’s Choice Voting

Get ready to vote for your favorite barbecue team!

Each competitor displays a QR code at their booth. Attendees scan the code and select the team they want to vote for. Votes are collected digitally and tallied to determine the People’s Choice Winner.

To allow attendees to try the entries, each competing team will provide a sampler platter for sale that includes all four competition meats.