The sweet smells of barbecue will be wafting down Washington Street during RiverFest this year.

For the second straight year, a barbecue contest will be held in conjunction with RiverFest as a fundraiser for Jacob’s Ladder and the Vicksburg Warren County Children’s Shelter.

Last year, the cook-off was held at the Elk’s Lodge, but this year they will be competing on Washington Street near Rusty’s April 20-21.

“I’ve been cooking and competing for 10 to 12 years and we didn’t have anything like this around Vicksburg so we just decided to do it,” Dusty McCain, who is helping organize the cook-off said. “Last year was our first year. It went really well. We had more people at the cook-off than we did at RiverFest last year. We had between 600 and 700 people show up last year.”

Eighteen teams competed last year, and McCain said they already have between 30 and 35 this year. The teams compete in chicken, rib and brisket and will also have the optional choice of competing in a whole hog cook this year.

Winners will be awarded in each of the meats and then an overall champion will be crowned based on the scores in chicken, rib and brisket. There will also be a People’s Choice award.

“We’ve got some from Jackson and we’ve got some that come all the way from New Iberia, Louisiana,” McCain said. “They actually bring 20 to 25 people at a time.”

The road will be shutdown at 6 p.m. Friday, McCain said, so teams can set up and then after a meat inspection they will be able to start cooking. The turn in times will be staggered throughout Saturday afternoon before the winner is announced.

McCain said they also have some special guests coming in to see this year’s cook-off with the opportunity to turn it into a larger sanctioned event next year.

“We do have delegates coming from KCBS, Kansas City Barbecue Society,” he said. “We have two delegates coming to come look and maybe next year we’ll sanction it to make it a lot bigger event. You lose a lot of control, but it makes it a bigger event. That is what we’re looking at.”

The competition costs $100 per team to enter and the winner will receive $500 and a trophy.