The Jack 2026 Schedule

DUANE CROSS
MCO Publisher•Editor

Folks around here know when The Jack has arrived. By Thursday afternoon, Wiseman Park starts looking different. Smokers and trailers settle into spots that were empty a day earlier. Team shirts from all over the country – and well beyond it – start showing up around the Square. Before long, somebody is asking where a pitmaster came from, and the answer may be Texas, Poland, Australia, or somewhere else a long way from Moore County.

That first good look comes at 5 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 8, when the Parade of Teams – stepping to the beat of the MCHS Marching Band – makes its way through Wiseman Park and the Square, beginning at the County Building.

That is when The Jack really starts.

The 37th annual Jack Daniel’s World Championship Invitational Barbecue will bring 102 teams from 41 states and 22 countries to Lynchburg this year, filling the park with some of the best competition barbecue cooks in the world. The field includes defending Grand Champion Kings BBQ of Jacksonville, Fla., along with teams that spent the year earning their way to Moore County.

Friday brings contests and a night in the Hollow

Friday, Oct. 9, begins at the Jack Daniel’s Visitor Center with the fifth annual “The Jack: Shaken & Stirred” cocktail contest at 9 a.m. The barbecue side of the weekend gets going an hour later with the “I Know Jack … about grillin’!” contest at 10 a.m., followed by judging at 11.

Friday evening moves away from the pits for the BBQ Bash in the Hollow, a Jack Daniel’s concert event beginning at 6 p.m. at the Lynchburg Welcome Center featuring Kelsey Hart and Redferrin.

It is a fairly easy Friday compared with what comes next.

Come hungry Saturday

Saturday begins at 8 a.m. with a complimentary BBQ breakfast presented by Mark Lambert of Sweet Swine O’ Mine. By 10 a.m., several corners of Wiseman Park will be busy at once. Judges begin checking in at the Jack Daniel’s tent, live music starts at the Food Court, and sign-ups open for the Country Dog Contest at the tennis courts.

The Demonstration Village gets going at the same time. BamaQ opens with Easy Smoked Honey Fire Chicken Wings at 10 a.m. Lambert follows at 10:30 with Whiskey Barrel Hot Dog Burnt Ends.

At 11 a.m., Bruce Johnson of Hey Bruce BBQ takes over with Barrel-Seared Tri-Tip Tacos featuring Certified Angus Beef. Misty Banchero of Seattle’s Butcher’s Wife follows at 11:30 a.m. with The Smokehouse Bacon Bomb Smashburgers.

Plenty cooking outside the competition tent

The demonstrations continue through the afternoon. At noon, TN Craft Butcher will offer a Wagyu Steamship Demonstration. Lee Hickel of Red Mules BBQ follows at 12:30 p.m. with Jack Braised Sausage and Peppers.

Lambert returns at 1 p.m. for Lynchburg Dirty Rice, while Billy Terrell of Beached Pig BBQ prepares Whiskey Smoked Whole Hog . BamaQ brings the honey fire chicken wings back at 1:30 p.m., and Hickel returns at 2 with Bavarian Brat Stack Burgers.

Visitors can watch experienced cooks up close, steal an idea or two, and probably start looking for something else to eat before long. The competition teams, meanwhile, will be thinking about turn-in times.

Turn-in time

There is plenty happening around Wiseman Park, but inside the judging tent, Saturday afternoon gets serious in a hurry. Judging begins at 11:30 a.m. with Jack Daniel’s Sauce for the invitational teams. At noon, U.S. teams turn in Cook’s Choice, while international teams compete in Home Cookin’ from the Homeland.

Chicken judging begins at 12:30 p.m. Pork ribs follow at 1 p.m., pork shoulders and butts at 1:30, and beef brisket at 2. Desserts go before the judges at 2:30 p.m.

Those turn-in times come only 30 minutes apart, leaving little room for anything to go wrong. By then, the work has been going on for hours, much of it while Lynchburg was asleep. For the teams, this is the part of Saturday that matters most.

A dog show and plenty of pie

There is still a whole lot happening outside the judging tent. The Country Dog Contest begins at 11:30 a.m. at the Wiseman Park tennis courts, one of those events that has become part of the Saturday routine for families who make a day of The Jack.

At 3 p.m., another longtime local tradition takes over the Duraflame Stage with the Homemade Pie Auction and Cake & Pie Auction, benefiting the Moore County Historical Society.

Local bakers will have done their part long before Saturday afternoon. Cakes and pies made in kitchens around Lynchburg and the surrounding area will wind up on the auction block, with the money helping support the Historical Society and its work preserving Moore County history. There may be world championship barbecue teams all over the park, but come 3 o’clock, a good homemade pie can still pull a crowd.

By 5:30, the waiting is over

The awards ceremony begins at 5:30 p.m. Saturday at the Jack Daniel’s tent. By then, the judging is finished, and the teams can only wait as category winners are called.

Eventually, the weekend comes down to the name everybody has been waiting to hear – the team crowned 2026 Jack Daniel’s World Championship Invitational Barbecue Grand Champion.

After that, Wiseman Park starts changing back. Teams pack up, smokers cool down, and folks who have spent most of Saturday walking the grounds begin making their way home.

The smoke usually hangs around a little longer.

So does The Jack.