Oct 15, 2024 – The sweet smell of barbecue will be wafting through the parking lot in front of Melissa Cookston’s The BBQ Allstars on Goodman Road East in Southaven on Saturday, Oct. 19. That’s when the World Junior BBQ League Championships take place there.
Melissa Cookston is the well-known, award-winning BBQ pitmaster, seven-time world Champion, restaurant owner, and someone basically involved in anything barbecue.
A number of years ago, Cookston formed the World Junior BBQ League, her effort to foster BBQ interest in the younger generation.
Cookston believes BBQ is a more wholesome and fun activity than other things teenagers get interested in.
“I started a foundation several years ago in hopes that I could get teenagers off video games, off social media and out cooking,” she said. “You know you learn so much more than how to cook barbecue competitively when you’re cooking outside. So, that was my primary goal, to get kids out cooking.”
Saturday morning, up to 40 youngsters will be competing for a $25,000 purse and the day for them will start early.
“They’ll start cooking at 6 a.m., but we start sampling to the public at 11 a.m.,” Cookston said.
While the event is a competition, it’s also a fundraiser for the World Junior BBQ League to keep reaching out to the next generation of pitmasters and for them to learn about the experience of barbecue.
“You bring in family, friends, and create an atmosphere of gathering, and I think that’s feel-good food,” Cookston said. “Barbecue’s a noun, a verb, it’s an adjective, but for me, it’s the experience.”
Donations and entry to sample the food at the championships will go to the WJBL making you eligible to win prizes, such as YETI coolers, grills, sauces and rubs. There’s over 500 prizes that will be given away.
Cooks will come from the Mid-South, Memphis, and Texas, but the field will also include competitors from the Caribbean.
“A friend of mine works for U.S. Meats and her territory is the Caribbean,” Cookston explained. “I went down there and taught a boot camp and judging session and they understood the mission that we have and have been such a good partner with us. Cooking barbecue on the beach has got to be fun, right?”
Cookston said since starting the WJBL, she has seen the growth and interest of cooking barbecue among youngsters.
“We teach them how to use a grill and how to manage fire so they can really cook anything,” she said. “There’s different philosophies on what barbecue is around the world and we’re very open-minded. These kids get a sense of how big the world is and how different everybody is when they get together and talk about cooking.”
Another part of the event will be a live fire demonstration, which began when a Fall Festival was included with the competition. Cookston feels a lot of barbecue cooks close a lid and don’t open it until it’s done. But, she said people do like to see how it’s done.
“We’re going to be cooking on some open fire with people from all over the country, some TV personalities, some world champions and just some backyard guys who like to cook delicious food,” she said. “You buy a wristband and you get to go in and sample all of these different styles of cooking, cooking on open fire.”
Wristbands are for sale the day of the event, picked up in person at The BBQ Allstars, or by ordering it online and picking them up at Will Call that day.
There are general admission ($20 in advance/$25 day of) and VIP ($100) tickets on sale now. Both include barbecue samples to enjoy, and the VIP tickets include full size food/drinks and demos from celebrity pitmasters. There will also be raffles where participants can win tons of prizes including full size grills. All proceeds go to WJBL.
