Smoke on the Waccamaw brings two days of food, competition, vendors, and family fun to Conway, with a soup cook-off Friday night and barbecue taking center stage on Saturday.
The annual festival is hosted by the Waccamaw Shrine Club in partnership with Conway Parks & Recreation. The barbecue competition is sanctioned by the Southern BBQ Network.
Friday: Soup Cook-Off
Friday night runs from 6 to 10 p.m. and puts the public in the judge's seat for the soup cook-off.
Public voting is done with $2 tickets, giving festivalgoers a chance to taste the entries and choose a favorite.
Saturday: BBQ Cook-Off
Saturday runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and shifts the focus to barbecue. Cook teams compete in the Southern BBQ Network-sanctioned contest while the public gets a chance to sample the barbecue and vote for a favorite of its own.
Public voting tickets are $2 each. The competition offers more than $6,500 in payouts to the top 10 cook teams.
Vendors and Family Fun
Saturday also includes booth vendors and family-friendly activities, so there's more to do between barbecue samples.
The festival has moved from its former downtown riverside setting to the Conway Sports and Fitness Center at 1515 Mill Pond Road. If you've attended Smoke on the Waccamaw in past years, be sure you're headed to the new location.
Barbecue for a Cause
The Waccamaw Shrine Club hosts Smoke on the Waccamaw as part of its charitable work supporting the Shriners organization and Shriners Children's.
That gives the weekend a purpose beyond the competition: come taste the food, support the cook teams, and help the local Shriners continue their work for children and families.
What to Know Before You Go
- Friday: 6–10 p.m., soup cook-off and public voting
- Saturday: 9 a.m.–4 p.m., SBN barbecue cook-off and public voting
- Public voting: $2 per ticket
- Location: Conway Sports and Fitness Center, 1515 Mill Pond Rd., Conway, SC 29527
- Contact: Jimmy Day, 843-458-7732
Organizer
Organizer
- Name
- Jimmy Day
- Phone
- 843-458-7732
- jsld@sccoast.net
