Ohio Smoked Meat & BBQ Festival

The “Ohio Smoked Meat and Barbeque Festival” has attracted BBQ teams from around the world to Nelsonville since it originated in 1996 as the first official state of Ohio championship for smoked meat and BBQ. The competition is sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbecue Society. In 2008 this Ohio barbecue classic moved to the Nelsonville Public Square, spreading the sweet smell of BBQ across Nelsonville during the 3rd weekend of October.

Now the Ohio Smoked Meat and Barbeque Festival needs your help! The pandemic canceled the competition in 2019 and 2020. Time has taken a toll on available volunteers and the competition needs people who are interested in helping as volunteers for this year’s competition October 14 & 15, 2022.

The Ohio Smoked Meat and Barbeque Festival will be holding a public meeting to discuss the 2022 competition and wants input and help from the public to continue this Ohio classic of barbecue. The public meeting will be held on Wednesday, April 13, 2022, at 5:30PM at the Nelsonville Elks Lodge, 53 Rocky Boots Way. The public is invited and encouraged to attend.

Updates from KCBS on COVID-19

We have received several questions and comments about the impact of COVID-19. Please see below:
 

• Contest Organizers are the parties who ultimately own each event and competition. They will determine if their Contests, Classes, etc. will still continue on the dates originally planned or move to a future date. KCBS will work with any Organizer on their decision about how they choose to proceed. Organizers, please contact the KCBS office at 816-765-5891 to discuss.
• We encourage the following:
• Look to your local health authority for any recommendations in your area.
• Visit the U.S. Center for Disease Control for tips on how to keep yourself safe at home, work, or other environments: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/downloads/workplace-school-and-home-guidance.pdf
• Visit the World Health Organization for more information; particularly for our International members https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019
• No handshaking or high-fives. Use non-touching methods of greeting one another.
• If you’re not feeling well or think you may be in in the most impacted groups of people; please stay home. In that event, please contact the Organizer, Team and/or Judging coordinator of the event to give them notice that you won’t be attending.
• If you have recently been to a level 1, 2 or 3 travel area, on a cruise, or an area with infections, please stay home.
• Do not participate in a contest if you are showing any symptoms of COVID-19.
• Cook Teams, Volunteers and Table Captains to change disposable gloves frequently.
• Judges to ensure proper hand-washing before entering the Judging area.
• Organizers to provide extra hand-washing stations and or Sanitizers.
• Judges and Teams to bring their own sanitizing wipes, hand sanitizer and/or wet wash cloths. Use of disinfecting wipes between rounds are encouraged.
• Suggest Organizers and Reps either:
  • Provide 6 serving utensils per each box for all category rounds so that each Judge may have their own serving utensil to take their sample from the box. (Utensils are still not to be used for eating; just removing the sample from the box). No toothpicks, please.
  • TC to wear gloves and distribute samples onto Judges judging plate after Appearance score.
• Organizers may wish to add additional Judges/Volunteers in case of cancellations from existing confirmed Judges/Volunteers.

 
**These recommendations are based on the information available at the time of publishing. We will continue to monitor and will share additional information as it available. **