May 1st, 2023 – 1:15 PM

Ethan Garrett – WRGA Digital News Editor & Video Reporter –

Saturday morning the community gathered for tasty food and fun at Ridge Ferry Park for the Backyard BBQ Bash presented by Coca-Cola and Shaw Industries.

The event, which was organized by the Rome-Floyd Parks and Recreation Department, featured public barbecue sampling from local team pit masters and cooks.

In addition to sampling bbq, the public was asked to help vote for the people’s choice award. Other featured contests were held for professional and amateur bbq groups.

The event also had an arts and crafts vendor area, a car show, and live music.

From the Rome Floyd Parks and Rec:

“In the people’s choice category, more than 1,700 votes were cast for the teams with Law Dogs drawing the overall votes to claim first. Navy Blue finished second and Roughneck BBQ took third place.

We Love to Smoke! took home the top prize for chicken as the judge’s scoring was extremely close with six points points separating the top four teams. Navy Blue BBQ finished second with Rollin Smoke BBQ placing third and Holy Smokes grabbing fourth.

Holy Smokes took the top prize in the pork category, as again the judges loved the various sampling with less than eight points separating the top five teams. Rollin Smoke BBQ took second place with Navy Blue BBQ, Buckwild BBQ, and Law Dawgs all tying for third place.

The points for each team’s scores from chicken and pork were then combined for the overall category with Rollin Smoke BBQ finishing first. We Love to Smoke! finished second, Navy Blue BBQ placed third, Buckwild BBQ placed fourth and M&A BBQ finished fifth.

The Best Team Name award went to Smokey and the Bandit, and the Best Set Up award went to Law Dogs.

In the fall, the Chili Fest chili cook-off and arts and crafts show will return to Ridge Ferry Park on Sat., Nov. 4th.”