Professional barbecue cooks from across the country will converge on Tusculum College when the first-ever Grills Gone Wild barbecue cook-off and festival comes to town in September.
The event is scheduled for September 12-13 on the Tusculum College campus. The Grills Gone Wild Barbecue Festival is organized by the Inferno Group of Harrogate, Tenn., and will feature top-flight barbecue masters competing for the $5,000 competition prize.
Grills Gone Wild is a family-friendly event, which will include a barbecue cook-off, a car show, a 5K fundraiser run and many other activities. The event will be held in front of Pioneer Park baseball stadium on the Tusculum College Greeneville campus.
The public is cautioned that professional barbecuers will not be offering samples of their barbecue, but there will be food vendors available during the Festival.
Confirmed Pro Cook Teams that will be competing at this event include Contagious Q, Smoke On This, Sons of Smoke, Hoggy Bottom Boys BBQ, Under the Radar- TN, Our Dogs Like It! BBQ, East Tennessee Q Crew, Caught By The Fire, Last Smoker Standing, Pull My Meat, River Road Grillbillies, Uncle Butch BBQ and Harlan County Coal Burners.
On Saturday, the car show begins at 2 p.m. and will include awards for Best of Show, Best Engine, People’s Choice and many others. The “Run in Glow Motion” 5k Run/Walk begins at 8 p.m., with registration beginning at 6:30 p.m. A post-race party will be held at 9:30 p.m. Registration for the race includes a gift bag with t-shirt, glow glasses and various glow products.
Other weekend activities include vendors, inflatable attractions for children, live music and a corn hole tournament.
This is a Kansas City Barbeque Society sanctioned event, where the teams will prepare their best ribs, chicken, beef brisket and pork.
Grills Gone Wild activities will be tied in to Orange Rush weekend on campus, a series of events on the Tusculum campus to encourage engagement among new students joining Tusculum as freshmen or as transfer students.
This is the first year for the event, and organizers hope to draw people from around the region to participate and attend the festivities. The event has previously been held in London, KY.
In addition to Tusculum College, sponsors for this event include Big Green Egg, Amedisys, Fatz Café, DirecTV, Big Adventure Inflatables, Durham-Hensley Health and Rehabilitation and Fit Club. Stage entertainment and events will be provided by Electric 94.9 FM.
For more information on the event, contact David Martin, director of facilities at Tusculum College at 423.636.7300
423.636.7300.