Experience the smells and tastes of barbecue nirvana, today and tomorrow, as Smokin In The Square takes over downtown Pensacola at Seville Square. According to organizers, the event draws an average of 50 pro teams and 25 backyard teams serving up seafood, chicken, ribs, and pork for the 95 judges to decide whose taste is king.
While Smokin aims to deliver the most succulent of competition, the underlying purpose of the event is for charitable giving. According to the Smokin website, the idea of a competitive BBQ emerged in 2008 with a backyard competition held at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church. The one-day event attracted 13 competitors garnering meager funds. Last year, the event netted $24,000 for charity.
This year, the two charities to benefit will be Feeding the Gulf Coast (FGC), formerly Bay Area Food Bank, and Santa RosaCountyBridge out of Poverty.
According to Kyle Schoolar with FGC, the food bank serves a 24-county area spanning the panhandle of Florida, south Alabama, and south Mississippi. In 2015, the food bank distributed over 20 million pounds of food to more than 400 church pantries, soup kitchens and other nonprofit organizations throughout its service area. FGC also operates multiple nutrition programs including Summer Food Service, Mobile Pantry, Cooking Matters, and SNAP Outreach among others.
The ultimate goal of Bridges out of Poverty is to reduce the social costs of poverty, strengthen the workforce, and build a more prosperous and sustainable community. Bridges’ main thrust is its Getting Ahead (In A Just Getting By World) series of classes aimed at identifying participants’ (called investigators) resources and showing them how to build them up for a more prosperous life. Bridges’ latest effort over the last year has been to urge the Santa Rosa County Commission to reintroduce public transportation. The faith-based community is also looking to do so for point-to-point transportation for medical needs.
Smokin doesn’t feature just great barbecue, but also entertainment, games, crafts, and a motorcycle show. Performers include Chloe Channel, Reid Soria, Yard Dog Blues, Pelican II, Civlized Natives, Avery and the Beards, New Fire, Jimi Stevie, Ami Russ, The Masters Men plus One, and the McGuire’s Pipe Band.
The Bikes on the Bay Motorcycle Show is the inaugural bike show in conjunction with Smokin. A panel of judges will score all entries in the show and determine the winners. Awards will be determined by overall engine, paint & exterior appearance in various categories including sport, vintage, builder, and rat. Note as well, a 2016 Indian Scout will be raffled to support both FGC and Bridges.
The opening ceremony for this year’s Smokin is at 4:15 today with the seafood competition at 6:30 p.m.. Today’s schedule stops at 10 p.m. Saturday entertainment begins at 9 a.m. with Smokin wrapping up around 7 p.m.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: BBQ competition benefits local charities