After the Stew Contest, Buford Park Fires Up Again: What to Know About Sulphur Springs' First Salute & Smoke BBQ Fest

"Come hungry. Bring your friends. Help us make this first year one to remember." That's the last line of the Salute & Smoke BBQ Fest event listing, and "first year" is the important part. On Saturday, November 14, Buford Park hosts a cook-off that has never been held before. Three weeks earlier, the same park hosted one that has run for 57 years.

The new event is built a lot like the old one. Both charge a $100 entry fee for cooks, an all-you-can-eat ticket for the public, and let young kids eat free, all on the same ground along Connally Street. The 57th World Champion Hopkins County Stew Contest shows what that format can carry after decades. Salute & Smoke is the first time the model has been tried a second time in the same fall, for a different cause.

Three weeks earlier, same park

On Saturday, October 24, 2026, the 57th annual World Champion Hopkins County Stew Contest filled Buford Park. According to the Hopkins County Chamber of Commerce, the cooking competition began in 1969. In its September preview, Front Porch News Texas called it "the second-largest cooking contest in Texas" and "the largest single-day event in Hopkins County."

The same preview explains how the event pays for itself. Alliance Bank was the title sponsor, and Signature Solar sponsored Kids Eat Free. The Chamber says those sponsorships let it hold the ticket at $8 for adults, the same price as the last several years, with kids 12 and under eating free. Cook sites cost $100 to register, and returning cooks had until noon on Friday, September 25, to claim their spot from the year before. One Church ran the Fun Zone for kids. Before the contest, the preview expected 350 to 360 cooks, two to a site.

Who won, and who bought the winning pots

KSST announced the 2026 winners on October 26. Heather Hall and Graysi Alvarado took first place in beef stew from Campsite #103. Johnny Morgan and Chuck White won chicken stew from Campsite #454.

What stands out in the results is the money. Each winning stew came with a cash prize from one local business, and then another local business bought the stew. The Historic Mitchell House events blog printed the full list:

Read down the price column. A first-place pot of regular beef or chicken stew sold for $700. A first-place quart in the Super Stew divisions, which offer experienced cooks a shot at bigger prizes, brought $900. Third place in chicken went for $250, much less than first. The same businesses also show up in more than one role. Interstate Body Shop sponsored the first-place beef team and then bought the winning Super Stew Chicken quart. Jay Hodge Chevrolet put up the $300 prize for first-place chicken and also bought that stew.

The cooks' sponsors are just as local. They include Northeast Texas Farmers Co-op, 3C Auction Company, Central Baptist Church, Rustic O Venue and Eatery with Smoke Eaters Barbecue, McGraw Yard and Tree Service, Saputo, Bob Evans Foods, Fizzy Sips, City National Bank, and Discount Wheel and Tire of Sulphur Springs. After 57 years, the stew contest is backed by a wide circle of Hopkins County businesses that come back every fall.

The new cook-off uses the same format

Salute & Smoke takes that format and points it at a different cause. The Hopkins County Chamber directory lists it as a nonprofit fundraiser and names Colton Morrow as organizer. Proceeds benefit Carry The Load, a nonprofit that honors and supports military members, veterans, first responders and their families. The fest falls a few days after Veterans Day on November 11.

Here's how the two events line up:

The cook's entry fee is the same at both events. The public ticket costs $2 more at Salute & Smoke. The free-meal age cutoff is lower, under 6 instead of 12 and under, so families with older kids will pay for more plates than they did in October. The stew contest's lower price comes from a title sponsor and a Kids Eat Free sponsor. A first-year fundraiser hasn't built up that kind of sponsor list yet, and the event listing is still asking for sponsors.

The competition is also set up differently. The stew contest spreads across stew divisions, Dutch oven baking, tailgate appetizers and awards for the most memorable campsites. Salute & Smoke sticks to three classic Texas barbecue meats: brisket, pork spare ribs and half chicken. The only side contest is Jackpot Beans. According to the registration form, the $100 team entry covers all three meats, Jackpot Beans is an optional $20 add-on where the winner takes everything, and teams pay at check-in. The event listing promises trophies, cash prizes and bragging rights.

How to spend November 14

Competition activities start Friday, November 13. The listing says Saturday is the day for the public. The event is at Buford Park on Connally Street in Sulphur Springs.

1. Plan around 12:30 p.m. That's when public serving starts on Saturday. It's almost two hours later than the stew contest's 10:45 a.m. start, so this is a lunch event, not an early morning one.
2. Count heads at $10 each. All you can eat costs $10 per person, and kids under 6 eat free.
3. Expect brisket, ribs and chicken. Those are the competition categories, so that's what the teams will have on their smokers.
4. Head downtown afterward. The Historic Mitchell House blog suggests going from Buford Park to Celebration Plaza to visit shops, get coffee and walk the historic square.

Lulu's Burgers is also downtown, at 210 Main Street. The News-Telegram covered its ribbon cutting as the business's second location. If you'd rather not go back for one more plate of brisket, it's an option before you head home.

If you'd rather cook than eat

The stew contest has room for 350 or more cooks after decades of growth. Salute & Smoke is still in its first year, and its listing asks people interested in competing or sponsoring to reach out. A team that already cooks stew in October can use the same $100 to enter a brisket, a slab of spare ribs and a half chicken in November, and then decide whether the $20 Jackpot Beans entry is worth the risk.

The stew contest has had decades to build its list of sponsors, buyers and returning campsites. On November 14, Salute & Smoke starts building its own, with $10 plates at Buford Park beginning at 12:30 p.m.

I'll be at Buford Park on the 14th, and I hope to see you there. If you're thinking about property within a short drive of Sulphur Springs' fall cook-offs, or anywhere around the Northeast Texas lakes, Boone & Co. Realty Group would love to talk it over with you. Let's Connect.