Returning To Mission Farm To Start Another BBQ Year

Brisket by Fred Vegas Smokers always scores high points. Photo: Fred Vegas Smokers via Facebook.

Mission Farm’s King of the Farm

The New Year begins slowly for BBQ contests. Very few are available before April; however, Mission Farm’s King of the Farm jumps to the start of the schedule with an event before spring arrives.

The top team is crowned King of the Farm. Photo: Mission Farm via Facebook.

Kansas City Barbecue Society

Sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbecue Society, this event is the first contest of the year for many cooking teams and judges, and it attracts many competitors from neighboring states that are looking to match their cooking skills with those of the best teams.

Cooking teams set up on the spacious grounds of Mission Farm.

Fred Vegas Smokers

Because I had been a judge at this event last year, I expected several top teams to participate such as Fred Vegas Smokers of Ravenel, SC, which earned top honors as the grand champion. They often place very high in contests and had been the reserve grand champion (runner-up) at the last KCBS contest where I judged in 2024, which was the Eastern Carolina BBQ Throwdown in Rocky Mount, NC.

Fred Vegas Smokers shows off the Reserve Grand Champion trophy won last year in Rocky Mount, NC. Photo: Eastern Carolina BBQ Throwdown.

Brother-in-Law BBQ Team

Fred Vegas Smokers won the contest by outscoring the other 25 teams that were competing for the $6,520 in prize money. One of the top-scoring teams was the Brother-in-Law BBQ team from Fletcher, NC, which was the top-scoring team in the ribs category. They earned a very difficult, perfect score of 180 points and easily outdistanced the other teams in this category.

Ribs prepared by the Brother-in-Law BBQ Team are usually exceptional; sometimes they are even perfect. Photo: Brother-in-Law BBQ Team via Facebook.

Mission Farm In Iron Station

King of the Farm is held in the small, rural community of Iron Station (about 40 miles northwest of Charlotte) on the 90-acre property of Mission Farm, which is a wedding and event venue. The weather for the contest was again perfect. The top cooking teams seem to enjoy competing in this event because it’s a great way to start a new year of competition.

The turn-in table is quiet before the first entries begin to arrive.

Iron Station, NC: First BBQ Contest of the New Year

Ribs prepared by Off The Rack BBQ team look almost perfect. Photo: Off The Rack BBQ/Facebook.

The barbecue contest in Iron Station, NC, is relatively new. It was first held in 2022. This year was my first opportunity to attend as a judge. 

Judges settle into the new barn of Mission Farm before their meeting begins.

Named for its history as an iron mining town with a train station, Iron Station is a small, rural community about 40 miles northwest of Charlotte. One of the local attractions is Mission Farm, a 90-acre property with breathtaking views. A main feature is a 1923 farmhouse that has been turned into a forever home by the Shank family, who have transformed the sprawling acreage into a wedding and event venue. 

Nothing makes a view more breathtaking than a rustic, well-used farm truck.

Known as Mission Farm’s King of the Farm, the contest is popular because it is now an early contest sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbecue Society and not too far for many cooking teams in several states to travel to.

Cooking teams stake out their spaces early at Mission Farm. Swine 'N' Roses BBQ, in the photo, placed high in the pork category.

For this year’s event, 26 teams competed for the $6,520 in prize money. The first-place winner, known as grand champion, was Casual Smokers. In second place as the reserve champion was Off The Rack BBQ, which posted on Facebook that this event is one that it will never miss because it is so well organized. 

In the covered pavilion area of the new barn, members of the Off The Rack BBQ show off their overall trophy plus trophies for each meat category: chicken, ribs, pork, and brisket.

The weather for the contest was perfect. The cooking teams upheld the best traditions of barbecue competition. As the first event of the year for many teams and judges, the King of the Farm contest was a remarkable success.

   

The beginnings of the contest winner in the brisket category. Photo: Off The Rack BBQ/Facebook.