Pitmaster Al Frugoni stood in front of an open grill as a small butchered goat roasted over flaming embers, and strings of red peppers, lemons and limes dangled above the fire.

“We’re gonna cook all the animals,” he said.

SmokeSlam organizers hosted a media event Wednesday, May 15, in Tom Lee Park, where barbecue teams and food vendors were mostly set up ahead of the inaugural festival’s opening day.

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Gates open at 2 p.m. on Thursday, May 16, for the new Memphis barbecue contest, which is run by Mempho Presents.

Frugoni, originally from Argentina, is based in Texas and has built a following online for his open-fire grilling techniques. “It is a big accomplishment being here and trying to share a little bit of my culture, my passion,” he said. “I hope a lot of people come because we have so much food.”

He’s part of a group of barbecue pros that will host cooking demos and hand out food samples in the B&B Charcoal: Live Fire Extravaganza area, which is open to attendees with general admission tickets.

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Christie Vanover is another pitmaster set up in the Live Fire area. She leads the Las Vegas-based “Team Girls Can Grill” barbecue team and was on season four of Food Network’s “BBQ Brawl,” but she’s put away her competition tongs for SmokeSlam. Vanover served some media members a sample of Korean-style short ribs during the preview event.

“We’ve got four whole hogs, we’ve got four steamship rounds (large cuts of beef). We’ve got lamb, we have whole salmon. We’ve got a mix and some Asian influences going on,” she said of the festival menu.

“The menu will change just a little bit, but there’ll be great food every day,” she said. 

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It’s her first time in Memphis.

“The spectacle that the teams are putting on is really impressive,” she said. “If you’ve been to competitions before, this is like next level.”

Teams have traveled from across the Southeast United States and as far as Arizona and Wisconsin to compete in whole hog, pulled pork and pork rib categories, along with ancillary contests: dessert, bacon, duck, poultry, beef, seafood and wings.

The media preview event was contained to the VIP and the Live Fire areas. Media did not walk the rest of the park because it was still being set up, per SmokeSlam representatives.

SmokeSlam park setup

Beyond the 57 tents housing competition teams, the event’s setup includes two market areas, pop-up pickle ball courts, food vendors, a stage and a Ferris wheel.

Festival reps said two teams dropped out and will not be traveling to Memphis. Other than that change, they say the setup has gone as planned.

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“Cookin’ Butt & Takin’ Names” from Texas and the Memphis-based “Pigs in Gin” and “Voodoo Q” are among the teams visible from the lawn next to the VIP area. The two-level “Sweet Cheeks BBQ” tent is set up on the riverfront and is visible over the other tents — it is a Memphis team that took home first place in the pork shoulder category of the Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest in 2023.

SmokeSlam’s main entrance and ticket office is near Beale Street and Riverside Drive. Another entrance is near the southern end of Tom Lee Park; guests must have tickets already in order to enter from the south.

The stairs descending the bluff at Butler Park are closed. The public can still access Butler Park itself and the bluff walkway from Tennessee Street but cannot use the stairs to enter SmokeSlam.

“From a safety standpoint, we just have to keep everyone coming through the north and south entrances,” said Mike Smith, head of production for Mempho Presents.

About Smokeslam barbecue contest and festival

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The park will be open from 2 to 11 p.m. Thursday through Saturday.

There’s a total of $250,000 in prize money, which organizers say is the biggest pot in barbecue contest history. Tickets are $24.99 per day or $65 for a three-day pass.

Smokeslam’s dates overlap with the 65th Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, which will run May 15-18 at Liberty Park in Midtown. 

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Will SmokeSlam happen on the third week in May next year?

“I think we will,” said Mike Smith of Mempho Presents. “We have a 10-year agreement with the park, so we’re not going anywhere. We got the largest purse in competition cooking history, so I know we got to stand strong with that.

Thursday’s SmokeSlam entertainment lineup features Tone Loc, Rob Base, Young MC, DJ M. Walk and Mustache the Band, and local act Noisy Cats are We. On Friday, War headlines, and The Bar-Kays and Hope Clayburn’s Soul Scrimmage will open. After the Saturday evening award ceremony, St. Paul and the Broken Bones will finish out the fest.

Editor’s note: Kevin McEniry — a member of the board of Memphis Fourth Estate, the nonprofit that owns and operates The Daily Memphian — is founder and master producer of the Mempho Festival and Mempho Presents.