Overview Holy Smokes is a one-day barbecue festival at Riverfront Park in North Charleston where one ticket buys all-you-can-eat access to four pitmaster villages - Traditional, Texas, New School and Coastal - cooked by more than 50 pitmasters and chefs from around the country. It raises money for families affected by pediatric brain cancer through Hogs for the Cause, and for Ronald McDonald House Charities of Charleston, across the street from MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children's Hospital. All donations stay in South Carolina. On site The festival runs 11 to 4, with VIPs and sponsors let in at 10:30. Each village has its own pits and smokers, and reserved tables inside the villages sit in front of the pitmasters at work, with food and a stocked bar brought to the table; only eight go in each village. General admission covers the food and the music, and drinks are sold at beer, wine and spirits tents; VIP tickets include drinks. A tailgate area plays live football on a 14-foot screen next to cornhole and other games, and a walkway of about 2,000 feet leads in from the entrance. The pitmasters sit down together at a Friday night dinner before the festival. Audience The crowd includes more than 500 VIP ticket holders. Strollers and diaper bags are allowed, lawn chairs and blankets go down by the stage, and the festival runs rain or shine. Talent and Influencers The 2026 lineup named Rodney Scott, Sam Jones, Pat Martin, Carey Bringle of Peg Leg Porker and the Lilly family of Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q for the Traditional village; Leonard Botello IV of Truth BBQ, Patrick Feges and Erin Smith and Jordan Wright for Texas; the Fox brothers, Pig Beach's Matt Abdoo and Shane McBride and Tuffy Stone for New School; and Stephen Franklin of DAS BBQ for Coastal. Chefs including Amy Mills of 17th Street Barbecue, Ryan Prewitt and Stephen Stryjewski of Peche and Michael Hudman and Andy Ticer of Hog and Hominy were set for village experiences. The Whisky Biscuits and The Betsy Franck Band were on the music bill, with Cameron Williams as artist in residence. Track record Aaron Siegel and Taylor Garrigan of Home Team BBQ, Anthony DiBernardo of Swig and Swine, Southern Living contributing barbecue editor Robert Moss, John F. Davis of Carolina One Commercial Real Estate and Joe Norton started Holy Smokes in 2021. It had given more than $460,000 to its two beneficiaries across its first five years, and the 2026 festival was its sixth. Brand presence Each of the four villages takes a naming sponsor, and naming rights also go on the beer, wine and spirits tents, the VIP area and the music stage, with two presenting positions above them. A vehicle sponsor parks two branded vehicles across the grounds, and the Friday pitmaster dinner takes a sponsor who can hand every chef a welcome gift. Vendors take shared tents or stand-alone builds, and every partner's name goes on the Community Partner Wall and on the crew, sponsor and talent badges.