Learn from year one
Use real attendance, site, food-sales, sponsor, and guest-engagement results to design a stronger competition.
Smoke Row
Bring the flavor. Feed the festival.
We are building the inaugural festival around great food for sale, welcoming vendor experiences, live-fire craft, music, and family fun.
The smoky heart of the festival
A food destination—not a competition field.
Smoke Row welcomes approved barbecue restaurants, food trucks, caterers, pitmasters, and specialty food businesses ready to serve festival guests directly.
The 2027 inaugural festival will not operate a formal championship BBQ competition. That decision gives food partners room to sell, helps families enjoy a wider menu, and lets the festival establish attendance and operations before adding a larger competitive program.
BBQ and food-vendor applications are open
Menus and participants are selected for quality, variety, operational readiness, safety, and available space. Submission does not guarantee acceptance.
How Smoke Row works
Cook. Serve. Connect.
Approved food partners operate as vendors and keep their festival sales revenue. The final vendor packet will confirm placement, service hours, permits, utilities, fire safety, sanitation, and load-in requirements.
01
Apply as a food vendor
Share your menu, prices, service capacity, setup, permits, and utility needs through the official vendor application.
02
Sell directly to guests
Offer festival-ready meals or specialties from an approved booth, truck, trailer, or catering setup.
03
Join the experience
Selected partners may be invited to demonstrations, vendor stories, or the guest-voted Best Bite of the Fest program.
Founding-year community exhibition in development
Battle of the Badges
The proposed Longview Fire and Longview Police feature is being reshaped as a friendly charitable cookout and public-service celebration—not a sanctioned professional competition.
A future festival expansion
Year Two: Who's Got the Smoke?
After the inaugural festival establishes its crowd, sponsor support, vendor performance, and operating systems, the festival plans to explore adding a structured BBQ competition in a future year.
Build the purse
Recruit a dedicated competition sponsor before promising prize money, judging, or sanctioned categories.
Recruit the right teams
Create an early interest list for professional, backyard, first-time, and youth cooking opportunities.
Smoke Row
Put your food in front of East Texas.
Apply through the vendor program and tell us about your menu, service capacity, cooker, truck or booth, and festival site needs.