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Join Us at This Event in 2024

$50,000 Prize Money Guaranteed

MAP & DIRECTIONS

ACCOMMODATIONS

REGISTER JUDGE

REGISTER TEAM

RULES

I’M A CRAFT VENDOR

I’M A FOOD VENDOR

At $50,000, it’s one of the world’s richest competitions. Smoke at Pine Bluff Regional Park, Sept. 20-21, 2024.

It’s a simple proposition: To be the best, you have to beat the best. And Sissy’s Log Cabin Smoke on the Water Championship at Saracen Casino is offering $50,000 to find out who’s the best.

Considered one of the world’s richest competitions with a guaranteed purse of $50,000, the KCBS-sanctioned Grand Champion purse of $15,000 is one of the largest on the competition circuit. We’re spreading the love by paying top five overall and top fifteen in all categories.  

BRISKET   CHICKEN   PORK BUTT     RIBS  

Grand Champion

Reserve Champion

Third Place

Fourth Place

Fifth Place

$15,000

$5,000

$2,500

$1,500

$1,000

Payout Through 15 Places

in 4 Categories

First Place

Second Place

Third Place

Fourth Place

Fifth Place

Sixth - Tenth

Eleventh - Fifteenth

$2,000

$1,000

$700

$ 450

$ 350

$200

$150

Payout Top 5 Places Overall

Craft & Food Vendors, Join the Fun and

Make Some Money!

If you make the best of what you make, here’s your chance to offer your product to our festive crowds and make good money! Whether your specialty is woodworking, sewing, candlemaking or serving up mouth-watering festival food, we have a spot for you for a modest fee. But you must register to be included.

Note: Water will be available, but bring your generator if you need electricity.

In addition to the $15,000 cash prize, our Grand Champion will receive this stunning, massive championship ring custom-crafted exclusively for Smoke on the Water by the master jewelers at Sissy’s Log Cabin, the Mid-South’s premier independent jeweler since 1970. This impressive, karat-gold mounting is set with genuine gemstones. Professional footballers, eat your heart out! And while you’re at it, have a little barbecue on the side. Also, the winner will be eligible for the Jack Daniel’s World’s Championship draw.

Saracen Casino Resort, located at 1 Saracen Resort Drive, Pine Bluff, AR 71601, at the intersection of Martha Mitchell Expressway and US 63/79, offers first-class dining and the ultimate personalized service in a Native American casino resort setting. Over 2,000 slot machines and 30 table games, poker play, sports book, with a variety of tournaments, big ticket giveaways and live entertainment will keep you entertained.

People’s Choice Barbecue Sampling Contest

Back by popular demand, we’ll present our People’s Choice sampling contest! Members of the barbecue-loving public will have a chance to taste-test world-class barbecue in blind-labeled samples.

Participants will vote for their favorite barbecue, by texting their nominees on their mobile phones. The People’s Choice Winner will be announced on the Main Stage along with our other winners.

Music: It Turns a BBQ Competition into a BBQ Party!

Fresh off their trip to the Blues Foundation’s worldwide competition on Beale Street in Memphis, our headliner, THE TINA COSSEY BAND, will belt out the tunes like no Blues band you've ever heard before. Although Cossey was born in California, she's been throughly baptized in the Blues here in Arkansas. Stir together the unbridled energy of Tina Turner with the soulful rasp of Janis Joplin and you've got the Tina Cossey vibe.

Joining Cossey on our amphitheatre Main Stage will be Lex “Copritalia” Arenella on drums, David Tidwell on bass, Andrew Poe on guitar and Darius Blanton on keyboard.

This will be a celebration of the Blues you don’t want to miss!

Tragikly White brings their hi-octane blend of dance and rock to crowds all over the U.S. and makes them one of the most sought-after touring acts around. You’ll hear all your favorites, from Usher to the Bee Gees, from AC/DC to Kanye West, from Chuck Berry to Buck Cherry – all delivered with an intensity that is completely over the top! No wonder they are regularly voted one of Arkansas’ best.

Grass Roots band, Jon Bailey & The Heathen Revival will play in the evening. Jon’s upbringing as a blue collar, small town kid, gives him that gritty sound that most can identify with. Voicing his roots in the foothills of the Ozarks for almost 30 years, Jon’s stories come from around the nation and sure to bring back the familiar taste of home that we’ve spent our lives searching for.

THIS EVENT SPONSORED IN PART BY: