Smokin’ in the Pines BBQ

KANSAS CITY BARBECUE SOCIETY COMPETITON TO BE HELD AT MOORE COUNTY AIRPORT

Smokin in the Pines Festival schedule for April 29th to Benefit First Tee – Sandhills

 CARTHAGE, NC— If you see smoke rising above the Moore County Airport on the 29^th don’t fret because it will be from an entourage of competitive BBQ teams at the Smokin in the Pines BBQ Festival and Competition.  The judged competition will feature 25 cooking teams from around the Southeast that have ventured to Moore County for this 1^st Annual contest.   The event is open to the public.

The Kansas City Barbeque Society is a competitive cooking organization based in Kansas City, Missouri, famous for Kansas City BBQ. It is the largest competitive barbecue organization in the world, with more than 15,000 members. It was founded in 1985 by Carolyn and Gary Wells and Rick Welch. Their desire was to put together a local group for competitive barbecue. It has since grown exponentially and provides oversight to hundreds of competitions.

Unlike other barbecue events that are planned in the area later in the year, Smokin in the Pines is a true competition with the participants vying for a cash purse, trophies and ultimately bragging rights for winning this prestigious event.  The event will include live entertainment featuring The Low-Down Dirty Heathen Band and Whiskey Pines, vendors and exhibitors, craft beer from Southern Pines Brewery and concessions food sales courtesy of the Southern Pines Fire Department.  Patrons will have the opportunity to purchase tickets onsite to sample the barbecue and participate in the People’s Choice category judging during the competition.  The event will be capped off with an awards ceremony at the conclusion of the contest with prizes presented for multiple categories including the Grand Champion for the competition.  The event hours for the public will be 11:00am to 6:00pm.

“We are excited that the Kansas City Barbecue Society will be holding one of their national sanctioned events in our community,” said Charles Gregg, CEO for the Pinehurst Surgical Clinic and Founder for the Smoking in Pines event.  “We are pleased to partner with the Moore County Airport as our site for this year’s competition.  The 25 competitors are some of the best in the Southeast and will travel as far as southern Florida to be part of our event.”

The competitors will begin arriving in Moore County on April 27^th and most will travel with self-contained trailer rigs that will be staged at the airport.  Cooking will begin on Friday with the actual Smoking in the Pines event and judging held on Saturday.   Judged categories will include chicken, ribs, pork, and brisket in addition to the People’s Choice Award selected by the sampling ticket holders.  The judging hours will be between Noon and 2:00pm with the awards ceremony planned for between 4:30pm and 5:15pm at the airport.

Gregg added, “some of the best competitive barbecue team in the country will be at the Smokin in the Pines event, with 10% of the field among the top 100 nationally racked BBQ teams including the number one ranked team.  In addition to cooking for prize money and awards the teams that will participate in our event are accumulating KCBS points for the series of competitions held throughout the year.”

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Ron Maness, Director of the Moore County Airport is pleased to have this unique event hosted at the airport later this month.  “The Moore County Airport continues to focus on community outreach activities and events, so we can expose our airport property and facilities to the residents and guests of Moore County.  We anticipate the Smokin in the Pines event should be very popular, especially when there is delicious barbecue involved.”

Parking for the event will be onsite at the airport, with the proceeds donated to First Tee – Sandhills.

A limited number of sampling tickets will be available for $10 onsite (10 samples), for those patrons wishing to be part of the People’s Choice award.

ABOUT SMOKIN IN THE PINES:

A cooking competition and community festival to benefit First Tee – Sandhills. This inaugural event is sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbeque Society, the largest society of barbeque enthusiasts in the world.

Connect with Smokin in the Pines:

www.smokininthepines.com

Smokin’ in the Pines BBQ Competition and Festival | Carthage NC | Facebook

ABOUT MOORE COUNTY AIRPORT:

The Moore County Airport was established in 1929 when the Tufts family, founders and operators of the Pinehurst Resort, opened a dirt runway and named it “Knollwood Airport.”  The airport was acquired by Moore County in 1935 and was later leased to the U.S. Army Air Corps until 1945, when it transitioned from a military airfield to a commercial airfield.  The Pinehurst-Southern Pines Airport enjoyed limited commercial airline service

from Piedmont Airlines (later USAir) but that service was discontinued following September 11, 2001.

Today, the Moore County Airport is a vibrant hub for private aircraft and corporate charter flights arriving and departing to and from Moore County.  The airport is operated and maintained by the Moore County Airport Authority, with a mission to be an engine of economic growth and opportunity for the Moore County community and region through the provision of excellent aeronautical support to the visitors, airport tenants, and to the business and military communities.

Moore County Airport (KSOP), located just minutes away from Pinehurst and Southern Pines, North Carolina, is the “Gateway to the Home of American Golf.”  The premier general aviation jetport welcomes pilots and passengers to a destination that is rich in history, tradition, and true southern hospitality.  The airport offers a full range of amenities and services for private aircraft and provides flight training, aircraft maintenance and charter flight services.

Connect with Moore County Airport:

Website: www.moorecountyairport.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/moorecountyairport

Instagram: www.instagram.com/moorecountyairport/

YouTube: www.youtube.com/channel/UCVktedXWy4lybikKPy_um2w

25 highly skilled Competition BBQ teams from across the Southeast will participate in The People’s Choice Category, where the public can sample and judge their Pork Butt entries.  BBQ that is smoked and prepared in multiple styles of cookers, in their competition trailers, and not from an oven in a kitchen.  This is a competition, and not an exhibition.  These teams are out for cash, trophies, and bragging rights.  You be the judge!

These teams have competed and won on some of the biggest stages, including television – The World Food Championships, The KCBS American Royal Invitational and Open, and The Jack Daniels Invitational, Memphis in May.  Their trophy rooms are filled with Grand Championship, Reserve Grand, and 1st – Top Ten trophies in the Protein Categories.

In 2022, TV Celebrity status was given to Brian Corbett with Smokin’ Skullies BBQ Team, who competed in the Discovery Channel’s Moonshiners Smoke Ring Championship.  Also Luke Darnell with Old Virginia Smoke competed in The Food Network series BBQ USA with Michael Symon.

Paul Holden from Willingham’s BBQ has a very rich history in BBQ:

Founded in 1983 by Hall of Fame Pitmaster, John Willingham, and now under the direction of championship Pitmaster Paul Holden. As a competition team, they have competed and won at some of the most prestigious BBQ and culinary events in the world, including Memphis in May, The American Royal, The Jack Daniels Invitational and The World Food Championships, racking up numerous awards and accolades, including 5 World Grand Championships, 23 Category World Championships, over 25 Grand Championships, and 100s of top 10 finishes and many notable awards and recognition. Our commitment to quality and dedication to the craft of BBQ has earned us a reputation as one of the top BBQ products companies and competition teams in the world.

Jerry Stephenson with Redneck Scientific finished 4th Overall in KCBS for 2016, They have competed in more than 122 Kansas City BBQ Society competitions earning 23 Grand Championships and 19 Reserve Grand Championships. They have competed up and down the East Coast and spots at the Jack Daniels World Championship Invitational BBQ and the American Royal World Series of Barbecue.

The team has walked in first place more than 35 times for individual meat categories in pork shoulders, pork ribs, brisket and chicken.

Recently, for 2023, Cary Chasteen with Hold Your Horses is currently tied for 1st place overall in the KCBS team of year points chase.

In 2022 Wolf’s Revenge BBQ was 5th Overall in Chicken.

Over the past month, Smokin’ Skullies has 2 Reserve Grand Championships, Bad Rooster has  Reserve Grand, Hold Your Horses Reserve Grand, Fred Vegas Smokers Grand Champion, Muttley Crew Grand Champion, and Redneck Scientific has a Grand Championship.

Competition Team List

Kansas City BBQ Society is Coming to Town

As a fifth grader, I can remember standing on our back porch deep in the woods of Lee County as my dad taught me how to get the charcoal grille up and running, know how to determine when the coals were the right temperature for meat followed by the proper way to baste it to perfection.

This was in the early 90s when gas grilles were surging in interest as the ‘next big thing’ for producing a quick grilled meal. But, not so fast in our house!. The process of outdoor cooking was cherished just as much as the meat it produced.

Whether it was the affordability of a pack of drumsticks and a pork butt or the flavors you could create out of the meat, so many celebrations have been shared with a side of barbeque sauce.

From birthday and engagement parties, high school graduations, rehearsal dinners, or simply ‘any given Saturday,’ barbeque style was always a staple.

Today, married for more than fifteen years, I have enjoyed experimenting with barbeque flavors and cooking techniques for my husband and kiddos; who, luckily, love almost anything with the word barbeque in it!

Last year after a team victory in a local member – guest golf tournament, my teammates and I decided to throw a victory barbeque party with our families.

But, this wasn’t any victory meal, we decided to turn it into a bbq competition! We each cooked our own interpretation of a boston butt with a ‘from scratch’ sauce on the side. Then, allowed our spouses and children to determine the winner.

I won’t divulge details on who came out victorious but will tell you it was a night we won’t soon forget!

In a few weeks, another day to remember will be happening here in the Sandhills.

As a lover of all things competition and meat, I am excited to tell you the largest society of barbeque enthusiasts in the world – the Kansas City Barbeque Society – is coming to town!

And, thanks to the Friends of Pinehurst Surgical Clinic,, proceeds from the cooking competition will be reinvested in our local community through youth development programs at First Tee – Sandhills.

On Saturday, April 29, KCBS will be bringing 25 cooking teams from the east coast to the Moore County Airport to compete for $15,000 in prize money. Competitors will cook and be judged in four divisions: chicken, pork, ribs and brisket.

Their rigs will begin rolling into town that Thursday afternoon and they’ll start prepping their meats soon after their emergency brakes are in lock.

So, if by midday Friday you’re outside and get a strong smell of flavor coming from the runway, you’ll know what’s going on.
And, not to worry, you can join me in the action!

Saturday’s attendees will have the chance to cast a vote for the coveted People’s Choice Award!

You’ll get to sample and judge pulled pork in a blind taste test that came right off the rigs from the competition teams that Saturday morning.

If judging isn’t your style. You can still come out and take in the action as cooking teams race against the clock to get each protein turned into the judges table on time and just the way they want it – both in appearance and taste!

So, mark your calendar for Saturday, April 29 and visit SmokinInThePines.com for more details.

I look forward to seeing you on the runway around high noon.

Because, what’s better than barbeque? The people you share it with!

Courtney Stiles is the Executive Director for First Tee – Sandhills. Interested in getting involved at Smokin’ in the Pines? E-mail cstiles@firstteesandhills.org.