TIFTON — A kids BBQ cooking competition returns to the Tifton Rhythm and Ribs festival on March 1  from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. in Fulwood Park. 

The festival features a professional, backyard BBQ, and kids cooking competition, children’s games and activities, arts & crafts vendors, food vendors, and entertainment. It promises a day of fun and food!

To complement the flavor of the festival, a BBQ competition sponsored by Historic Downtown Tifton, 130 First St. E.,  just for those between the ages of 7 and 16, will join in on the festivities again this year.

“The Downtown Tifton Main Street Program, in partnership with the City of Tifton, is proud to serve as the sponsor for this event. Seeing that the festival is held in our downtown and we welcome more than 15,000 to our community, we felt this was the perfect way to support the event,” said City of Tifton Main Street Manager Hillery Culpepper. “We are excited to see the younger generation get involved with the festival, through the Kids BBQ Competition, and see their creativity come to life,” Culpepper added.

The Kids BBQ Cook-Off will feature the challenge dish of BBQ kebabs. There is no cost to enter the competition.

Judges will include City of Tifton’s mayor and Downtown Tifton merchants.

There will be two age group categories for children, 7 to 11 and 12 to 16. Top winners will receive a trophy and compete for overall prize, the, “Golden Skewer.” Awards will be announced at 4 p.m. on March 1, along with the professional and backyard competitions. Contestants must have a designated adult supervising them throughout the cooking process.

“We hope to see our young chefs return to this festival year after year and continue to compete – who knows, maybe one day we will see one of them open a BBQ restaurant in Downtown Tifton!” Culpepper remarked.

Applications are due by Tuesday, Feb. 25.

To register for the Kids BBQ competition or to learn more about Tifton’s Rhythm and Ribs Festival, please visit: https://www.tiftonribsfest.com/applications.