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Today's column asks:
Will Memphis again have competing barbecue festivals in 2025?
As most everybody probably knows, Memphis hosted two barbecue competitions this past weekend.
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A city fixture since 1978, the Memphis in May International Festival World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest took place May 15-18 in Liberty Park.
Meanwhile, a smaller-scale competition, the upstart SmokeSlam festival, organized by Mempho Presents, piggybacked on essentially the same dates. It brought the heat May 16-18 to the redesigned Tom Lee Park, which is managed by the Memphis River Parks Partnership. (The Partnership's squabbles with Memphis in May explain why the World cooking contest left Tom Lee for Liberty Park.)
MEMPHIS IN MAY:Meet the winners of the 2024 World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest
The head-to-head scheduling caused friction and even bust-ups within some teams, as members decided whether to go with Memphis in May or SmokeSlam. In interviews before and during the festival, participants — whatever their overall praise and/or criticism of the host organizations — expressed regret that the events were in seemingly antagonistic competition against each other.
Apparently, however, those sentiments weren't very influential.
Next year, the 47th World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest and the second SmokeSlam will again occupy the same dates.
The Memphis in May event — which has occupied a mid-May weekend for decades — will be held May 14-17 in Liberty Park.
SmokeSlam, meanwhile, will return May 15-17 to Tom Lee. (In addition, Mempho's new May music festival, RiverBeat, which debuted this year, will be back at Tom Lee for three days, May 2-4.)
SMOKESLAM:Meet the winners of Memphis' new barbecue contest
SmokeSlam apparently doesn't want to mess with what spokesperson Lindsay Stevens said was a successful inaugural event. She said the festival, which featured cooking demonstrations, publicly available barbecue and performances by such bands as the Bar-Kays and War, attracted 16,697 in paid attendance.
Randy Blevins, Memphis in May vice president of marketing and programming, said the festival was "still tabulating the final numbers, but we had strong attendance all four days. Most important, we saw an amazing groundswell of support from Memphians, and especially from the barbecue community.”
Last year, Memphis in May reported attendance of 39,625 at its World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest. That figure — low, by Memphis in May standards — includes team members, vendors and all persons in the park.
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