More than $2,500 in prize money will be on the line, and a day of fun and food will be on tap, when Escambia County High School hosts its second annual BBQ Competition & Festival on Friday and Saturday, April 21-22.
The event, expanded to two days this year to allow more time for preliminaries and for participants to set up, will take place at Tom Byrne Park.
Friday has been set aside for team and vendor set-up, beginning at 8 a.m., with a mandatory cooks meeting at 6 p.m., the “Anything Butt” turn-in at 7 p.m., and the VIP portion of the festival, which will also begin at 7 p.m. on Friday.
The smell of grilled meat will fill the air around the park on Saturday. The opening ceremony will get under way at 9 a.m., and a judges meeting will be held at 10 a.m., at which time serving will begin. Plates will be available for $10 each. Several vendors will also be on hand, offering a wide selection of arts and crafts.
Competitors try to outdo each other and claim the $500 that will be awarded to the Grand Champion and the $200 Reserve Champion prize.
A cash prize of $150 will be awarded to the winner of the Anything Butt category; $300 will go to the winners of each category, with second-place teams in each category earning $200 each, and third-place finishers taking home $100 each.
Teams in the chicken competition will turn in their offerings to judges at 11 a.m., entries in the ribs category will be turned in at 11:30 a.m., and those who grill butts will turn in their entries at noon. All entries will be judged using the “blind turn-in” method.
The event will wind up with an awards ceremony at 3:30 p.m.