CHURCH COOK TEAMS
16th Annual Smoke on the Lake BBQ Festival
Friday, May 8th & Saturday, May 9th, 2026
Church Cook Teams are encouraged to enter the Heavenly Hog Competition which follows the same rules as general Cook Teams but will also participate in a Church Team Competition on Friday night and Saturday.
Heavenly Hog competitors can win any of the categories: Lord of the Wings, Tasters Choice Pork, and GBA judged events.
In addition, The Heavenly Hog Cook Team with the most combined tickets for Friday and Saturday will be crowned this year's Heavenly Hog Champion. There is no additional prize money, but the winning team will earn bragging rights amongst the Heavenly Hog competitors for a full year AND a HUGE TRAVELING HEAVENLY HOG CHAMPIONSHIP TROPHY!
Entry Fees for CHURCH Cook Teams
$1,000 Entry Fee entitles each Heavenly Hog Cook Team to the following:
• One large 20’x40’ Cook Team Space
• Listed (print only) on on-site festival signage
• Listed (print only) on festival T-shirt.
• One (1) table of six for the Friday night concert
• One (1) VIP Parking Pass
• Six (6) Passes to the Publix VIP Lounge on Friday night for complementary charcuterie, fruit and desserts.
This is a single weekend, open-entry, BBQ event conducted in association with the Georgia BBQ Association.
Any team with at least one current GBA membership is eligible to compete. GBA rules and regulations.
Vendors will be onsite selling food as well as providing activities for the public on both Friday and Saturday.
Cook Teams are prohibited from selling food to the public.
Questions? Please contact Jude Dooley at 336-407-5052 or judedooley@gmail.com
Prize Details
Grand Champion – Trophy & $1,000
Reserve Champion – Trophy & $500
Meat – 1st $200 (Trophy), 2nd $150 (Trophy), 3rd $100 (Trophy)
Meat – 4th–5th Ribbons
Lord of the Wings – Trophy and $750
People’s Choice Pork – Trophy and $750
Heavenly Hog Competition - Trophy
Mystery Meat – Trophy and $100
Friday Night Judged Chicken Wings – Trophy and $100
People's Choice Competitions
Lord of the Wings & Taster's Choice Pork have the largest direct impact on our community. The funds raised thru taster tickets are used for multiple Rotary charity events and community efforts. Your support is encouraged and needed.
Lord of the Wings
Friday
5:30 PM - 8:30 PM
People's Choice competition featuring Chicken Wings
Cook Teams must have Chicken available at 5:15 PM
Each participating BBQ team will prepare their own special flavor(s) of chicken wings and the public will judge.
Festival patrons will be able to purchase books of 3, 6 and 12 taster tickets and provide a Taster Ticket for a Wing on Friday and Pork on Saturday.
After sampling different team's wings the taster will give the voting ticket to the team that they liked the best.
Each cook team is responsible for distributing the wings at their individual cook site.
The Team with the most voting tickets will be crowned this year's Lord of The Wings.
Winner will receive Trophy & $750.00
All teams will receive wings to assist you in the event.
The wings can only be used for the Lord of the Wings competition.
Any team caught using the wings for anything other than the Lord of the Wings competition will be disqualified from the entire event.
TASTER’s Choice Pork
Saturday
11:30 AM - 2:30 PM
People's Choice competition featuring Pork Butt
Cook Teams must have Pork available at 11:15 AM
Each participating BBQ team will be preparing their own pork butts and the public will judge.
Festival patrons will be able to purchase books of 3, 6 and 12 taster tickets and provide a Taster Ticket for a Wing on Friday and Pork on Saturday.
After sampling different team's BBQ they give the voting ticket to the team that they liked the best.
Each cook team is responsible for distributing the wings at their individual cook site.
The Team with the most voting tickets will be crowned this year's People’s Choice Pork.
Winner will receive Trophy & $750.00
All teams will receive butts to assist you in the event.
The butts can only be used for the People’s Choice competition.
Any team caught using the butts for anything other than the People’s Choice Pork competition will be disqualified from the entire event.
PEOPLE'S CHOICE COMPETITION RULES
If Cook Team receives chicken wings or pork butts, the Team must participate.
Cook Teams may not purchase tickets to stack their ticket count.
Cook Teams may not trade tickets with other Cook Teams.
Provided meat is only allowed to be used for the associated event.
After the competition ends, any remaining meat will belong to the Cook Team.
Ancillary Competitions - for Judging only
Mystery Meat – Friday, 6:00 PM turn-in time
Chicken Wings – Friday, 6:30 PM turn-in time
Each participant will be provided with a food item at the 3:30 PM Cook Teams meeting. Participants can prepare the item any way that they wish.
Location
Logan Farm Park
Setup
Friday after 10:00 AM
Please check-in before set up
Lunch
Friday at 1:00 PM
Lunch provided by Chick-fil-A
Cook Teams Meeting
Friday at 3:00 PM
Judges Tent
Serving Times
Lord of the Wings
Friday 5:30 PM - 8:30 PM
Teams serve Chicken Wing samples to the Public
Taster's Choice Pork
Saturday 11:30 AM - 2:30 PM
Teams serve Pork samples to the Public
Turn-in Times
Friday
6:00 PM Mystery Meat
6:30 PM Chicken Wings
Saturday
9:45-10:00 AM Chicken
10:45-11:00 AM Ribs
11:45 AM-12:00 PM Pork
BREAKFAST
Saturday at 7:30 AM
Breakfast provided by Copeland’s of New Orleans
Awards Ceremony
Saturday at 3:30 PM