Smoke On The Harbor BBQ Throwdown

Unfortunately we went a little to late on Saturday the food was pretty much gone, they were just getting ready to announce the winners of the cook off. But everyone we talked to had a great time, some friends of ours competed for the first time. They had a great time! I’m definitely putting this on the calendar for next year. Go early and plan to spent the day

Great venue for this event, but the parking is always horrendous. Shuttles or golf carts should be available to help commute people from their remote locations. The entrance fee could cover the expense since there is no actual parking fee.
The BBQ is award winning and vendors come from other states, but mostly from the Carolinas as far as I could tell. Plan on a 1 — 2 oz taste for a ticket or two. This seems like a small portion until you go to a couple of places. I never leave hungry. With that said, you should plan to get there on time because many places run out of food by about 2 pm even though the event goes until 5 pm.
Always good music to dance or listen to and the stage is in a central location. In addition to the BBQ contest, there are also various whiskey competitions. George Dickel is always a staple.
Even with a few limitations or hurdles, I still consider this a great event and plan to attend each year if possible.

This was my first year coming to The Smoke on the Harbor event. I really enjoyed walking around and tasting all the delicious BBQ! Tickets were a $ 1 each which isn’t that bad at all. The food was so good! I am definitely looking forward to coming back next year!

Second year at this event and I was pretty disappointed this year. With 2 and a half hours to go in the event there were only a small handful of places still selling samples. With an hour and a half to go, they had run out of yuengling who was sponsoring the event. The liquor drinks were short poured and expensive. Trash cans were sparse and always overflowing. The music was great, what samples I got we’re delicious, the groupon made it more affordable but in the end I wasn’t left with a great feeling. Not sure I’ll be back next year.

Very disappointed this year. The Friday event went ok, but the Saturday event was supposed to last until 5pm. We got there around 2:30 and after buying tasting tickets, we were told by all of the competitors that they weren’t accepting tasting tickets anymore because people’s choice voting ended at 2, which was not really stipulated on their website at all. A lot of the vendors were already out of BBQ. So we had basically spent money on tickets for air, as far as I can tell. I just don’t understand how it’s still this disorganized. Especially since last year seemed to go so seamlessly.

I’ve been to this event the past two years. Last year, I loved my time here, sampling pulled pork and ribs, enjoying some apple pie moonshine, listening to some awesome music. This year, I was a little less thrilled. When we got there around 2, we were told most people usually get around 20 — 40 tickets. We remembered last year using about 40, so we went ahead and got 30. No one mentioned to us that the competitors stop taking tickets at 3… we ended up with a ton of leftover tickets. Don’t get me wrong, we were able to use them on beer, but still! I really wanted to try a lot of the BBQ that ended up selling out or the vendors just packed up.
Lesson learned though — I will definitely get there early next year! Tons of yummy food when you are there early. Plus, parking isn’t an issue if you are there earlier in the day.

Perhaps if I go next year I’ll try the bbq competition on day 2. I went on the first day for wings and was disappointed. Each flat or drum was 1 ticket = $ 1 dollar and smaller than the usual flats/​drums you find in restaurants. Most of the places cooked the wings prior to the 6 pm sampling, so I also didn’t get the crispy skin experience I was hoping for. The location was nice though, and I appreciated the water stations.

This year, I only went to the Saturday event, which was pulled pork. The event was supposed to last until 5pm. We got there around 2:30 and after buying tasting tickets, we were told by all of the competitors that they weren’t accepting tasting tickets anymore because people’s choice voting ended at 2. A lot of the vendors were already out of BBQ. So I got to try some BBQ for free, but I had a bunch of tickets and the only thing they were good for was getting drinks or some really basic burgers and hot dogs.
I would have had a better time if (a) the ticket sellers had warned us that our tickets would only be good for drinks and (b) if more of the vendors were serving BBQ. If an event is advertised to go until 5, the vendors should be prepared to serve until 5.
On a positive note, the bbq I did try was awesome and the bluegrass band was really great!

If you’re a HUGE bbq fan you would probably enjoy it even more. I enjoy BBQ, but had my fill quickly. I thought the $ 1/​sample added up too quickly and it ended up being quite an expensive outing for us by the time you add drinks and I still left hungry. The parking was also a bit ridiculous — there was no parking lot at all. Everyone had to park along the road, on road dividers and circles. The bands were great. The drinks were great.

Have you ever had a meat hangover? It’s rough. But, oh, what sweet, sweet pleasure it is getting to that condition. The Smoke On The Harbor BBQ Throwdown was worth every bit of the repercussions.
This event far surpassed my expectations. The one-​dollar portions were very generous, and there were plenty of vendors to keep the lines within reason. The numerous free water stations were appreciated, especially for such an unseasonably warm day. The live music was entertaining, and the harbor views were pleasant. There was even a decent amount of seating available and, I noticed a significant (and supervised!) kid’s play area.
Most of the samples were of pulled pork, but there were a handful of booths that also had brisket, and even a rib or two could be found. I guess, if you didn’t like meat, you were at the wrong place. But they did have some side fixin’s for sale at the concession stand.
The beer selection was kind of lame (Miller Lite, Blue Moon, and hard cider) but the Striped Pig moonshine and Dickel Whisky made up for it.
The only major problem I had with the event was the lack of any recycling. Untold thousands of plastic serving cups, drink cups, water bottles, and aluminum cans were needlessly thrown in the trash because there were no recycling bins. This is as much a responsibility of the Town of Mount Pleasant, and the Harbor Resort, to attend to but, obviously, the event organizers did not take it upon themselves to provide recycling collection.
As for Donna C., I can only assume that she was there on Friday night because that was not the scene on Saturday. Everyone seemed to be having a great time.

We were in town for the weekend and decided to take the ferry across the harbor to this festival. Thankfully the festival was right off the pier so we didn’t have to walk far.
Unfortunately we arrived an hour before it ended so they were pretty much out of BBQ and most alcohol at this point. Luckily the individuals charging admission and putting on the bracelets made an executive decision to let us in for free which was a good call. Otherwise I am sure they would have had plenty of complaints.
At the time we arrived they were already doing judging for different BBQ categories.
I’m sure it would’ve been a great time if we arrived earlier so the 3 stars was because of food running out an hour early.