2020 Jim Beam Fire on the Mountain BBQ Competition

We’d like to thank all of the participants for making our 2020 BBQ Competition a huge success!  Thank you to our sponsors, Jim Beam, Appalachian Wireless, the Appalachian Artisan Center, Hindman Double Kwik and Bulan Meats.  We’d also like to thank Brian Yoder for making sure the teams had electricity, the Knott County Water and Sewer District and Perry County EMS for the use of their generators, and Bobby Rose and Elmer Harris for keeping them fueled up all weekend.  Thank you to Corbett Mullins for making some awesome trophies and Mike Slone at Lawless Ink for designing some awesome shirts!  Thank you to all of our judges.  Nobody wins anything without you!  Last but certainly not least, thank you to the staff of the Knott County Sportsplex for working some LONG hours to make this event possible!

This year’s contest was even more challenging than usual due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  We had several things planned that had to be put oh hold this year.  Hopefully we can run with those ideas in 2021.  We were fortunate to have Don and Debby Harwell as contest representatives from Kansas City BBQ Society this year.  They showed up with a plan put together by KCBS to keep our BBQ teams, judges and workers healthy and safe.  They went above and beyond all recommendations from the CDC to maintain the health and safety of everyone involved.  This was hands down a model for running a successful event during the COVID-19 pandemic.  We cannot thank them enough!

This was our 4th competition and it has grown every year thanks to all of you.  Our goal for 2020 was to have 30 teams competing.  We’re proud to say that we reached that goal this year.  The 2020 event also featured our first dessert competition.  The quality of the BBQ from the competitors is out of this world and they brought desserts to match!  Here are our winners from 2020!