Local team, the Pit Commanders, prepare their rib entry to the judges of the Backyard Boogie category of the competition. The Pit Commanders won first place in the sauce category.
Jalina Fourcade/The Lion’s Roar

Neither rain, wind nor gloom of the day could extinguish the flames of smokers and grills at the Smokin’ BBQ Challenge in Downtown Hammond.  

The competition, hosted Mar. 24 and Mar. 25, featured three tiers of competitors with expertise ranging from beginners to nationally ranked professionals. The professional teams competed for the title of Grand Champion for the Kansas City Barbeque Society Louisiana State Championship. The local teams competed in the Backyard Boogie contest and children’s teams competed in the Lamar Outdoor Advertising Chicken Little Contest. Due to a sponsorship by Smithfield Marketplace, the top ten professional teams were granted cash prizes with the Grand Champion taking home $12,000 in prize money. 

Competitors and KCBS certified judges traveled to come to the event. This event is held to strict standards and health codes as competitors had to prove their meat was held in proper cooling conditions and remained unseasoned before they began to cook. 

KCBS officials, such as David Roper, completed these inspections. Roper served as a Master Judge in this competition and shared the detailed process by which these competitions take place, emphasizing that this is not your average neighborhood cook-off but rather a small part in a yearlong circuit competing across the world. 

“This is a Kansas City Barbeque Society sanctioned cook-off,” said Roper, who has judged over 275 of these competitions. “It’s the largest sanctioning body in the world. They’ve probably sanctioned 500 contests in the United States, and they have around 20 in Europe. These teams get points for these contests. They get them for showing up and winning each category. The KCBS has chicken team of the year, pork team of the year, rib team of the year and overall team of the year. It’s a big deal.”

This competition saw a drastic decline in attendees as the downpour left competitors and locals running for cover. In spite of the weather, local businessman and Head Coordinator of the event Eric Phares believed the event was still a great way to raise funds for well-deserving Tangipahoa non-profit organizations. 

“Despite the rain, the event was a success,” said Phares. “A lot of the teams that stuck it out fought through the rain and did what they had to do to compete. Overall, it was a success for our community.”

Dr. Amber Narro, a university communication professor and one of the event organizers debuted an arts and crafts market area to the festival to further encourage locals to attend. This event brings attention to the community and brings customers to many restaurants during what is typically a slow season.

 “The economic impact of this competition is big,” said Narro, “A lot of the local restaurants have been very busy the past few days. Also, this event brings a lot of attention to the area. There are people coming here from over eight states.” 

The university had ties to this event as well as students were seen attending and contributing to this charitable cause.

“A lot of Southeastern students are volunteering,” said Narro. “Actually the golf team was helping set up and clean up the vendor areas.”

Many of the rookie competitors were left star struck as they competed against teams well known in the barbecue circuit some of whom were featured on the TLC reality show “BBQ Pitmasters.” 

Alliot Green, of Jackson, Mississippi came with the team City Smoke BBQ and Co., led by himself and Justin Beecham, also from Jackson. These men are known for their barbecue at their family’s restaurant, Josephine’s Kitchen in Jackson. They decided to compete to see how their barbecue fares in the professional circuit. 

“So, we watch the pitmasters show faithfully and the first opportunity we got we were wondering if we could do this,” said Green. “We love to cook, and our family members at home say we do a good job on the grill. We’ve done some family reunions and parties, and people enjoy the food and want us to sell it. So we put it in the restaurant and now we’re here seeing if we can compete with it as well.”

Their celebrity competitor of choice was Johnny Trigg, known as the “Godfather of BBQ”, who was competing with his team the “Smokin’ Triggers.”

“We want to meet Johnny Trigg,” said Green. “We have to get a picture with him before we leave.”

Collin Clark of Madisonville represented his business, Collins Pretty Good Catering and Co. in the professional side of the competition.  As first time competitors, they utilized many unconventional techniques such as smoking their meats in a used filing cabinet and cooking meat on a salt lick which is commonly used for deer.

“We’ve got a couple cool techniques we’re going to use,” said Clark. “That’s why we wanted to join to bring something fresh to the judges that they haven’t experienced before.”

The sun came out in time for the announcement of the winners, Iowa’s Smokey D’s BBQ was awarded Grand Champion of the professional competition, the Taste Buds team was the overall winner of the Backyard Boogie, and the Chicken Little contest’s winner was the Lil BBQ team.  

University alumnus Shane Faust of Hammond competed with his team the Pit Commanders in the Backyard Boogie contest, ranking 15th overall and first in the sauce category. 

“Unfortunately the weather wasn’t good this year, but every other year we’ve had good weather,” said Faust. “We just get together, tailgate, have a good time, barbecue and at the end of the day, maybe we win something.”

Despite the bragging rights that come with a victory, competitors kept the mission of the competition in mind and did their best to raise money for the beneficiaries.

“It’s really all about the charity, so that’s all we worry about,” said Faust. “My mom works for TARC, so it’s personal for us. We just try and raise as much money as we can, even with the bad weather.”

This event succeeded in providing a boost to local commerce, a taste of barbecue on a rainy day and a donation to organizations in need of assistance.

Patrick Banks, pitmaster of professional BBQ team Booty Que won the Reserve Grand Champion title at the Hammond Smokin’ BBQ Challenge.
Jalina Fourcade/The Lion’s Roar