State’s top cook teams returning to Port Royal for Bands, Brews and BBQ. Here are the details
The 13th annual Bands, Brews and BBQ — which features top cook teams from across South Carolina whose award-winning barbecue will be judged and enjoyed — returns this weekend to Port Royal for the first time since 2021.
The two-day event, presented by Beaufort Memorial Hospital and hosted by the town of Port Royal, is a chance to sample South Carolina’s best barbecue while helping Friends of Caroline, which provides end-of-life care to patients and their families. Proceeds go to the nonprofit.
Many people in the region don’t have insurance or enough insurance for end-of-life care, said LaNelle Fabian, director of community engagement for Friends of Caroline.
“Fundraisers like this allow us to care for them,” Fabian said.
In October, Friends of Caroline opened the first in-patient hospice care facility in the region.
Bands, Brews and BBQ is 6-9 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday on Paris Avenue. It is expected to attract more than 5,000 people.
Competition will occur between 19 cook teams from across the state who will be participating in the first barbecue event of the season sanctioned by the South Carolina Barbecue Association, including the top three teams in 2022 — Tail-Gater Hater’s Dennis Caraway and Phillip Miles, Amanda and George Ray of Monkey Bottom Boys and Chris Owens, Jamie Mintz and Charlie Lea of Casual Smokers.
Cook teams compete at sanctioned events all year, accumulating points as they go. Winners are recognized by the governor at the end of the season.
On Friday evening, each cook team will prepare 40 pounds of wings. Some of those wings will be submitted for judging by the event’s sponsors.
On Saturday, the teams switch to pork shoulders, or Boston butts, with each team cooking eight. Judges with the South Carolina Barbecue Association take over the scoring.
Local teams representing first responders, veterans, educators and health care workers are in the mix, too and compete for a Hometown Heros award worth $500, a flag and bragging rights.
The public will get to taste the work, with $1 tickets good for one wing or 2 ounces of pork shoulder. Admission is free and tickets for for food and drink can be purchased at the event.
The cook teams will also do a rib side pot that will be scored, but the public won’t get to taste that work.
The Dirty Boots Brass Band from the U.S. Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island will get the party started at 5:30 p.m. Friday, followed by Steel Rail Express.
Chris Jones, The Bullgrapes and The Chiggers will perform Saturday.
The event will go on rain or shine, Fabian said.
Organizers decided to cancel last year because COVID-19 had forced them to push back the 2021 BBB to November — just 3 months before the regularly scheduled 2022 event.
This story was originally published February 23, 2023 at 12:09 PM.
