We all know someone who says they make the best brisket. This April, the Syndicate Smokedown & Music Festival will find out who’s willing to prove it in the Fort Worth Stockyards.
The 2026 Syndicate Smokedown marks a turning point for the young but fast-growing festival. After hosting more than 65 teams last year, organizers are expanding their International Barbeque Cookers Association (IBCA)– sanctioned competition and issuing an open call to pitmasters across Texas and nationwide. The goal is simple and ambitious: the largest competitor field in the event’s history, staged in one of the state’s most symbolic settings for livestock, labor, and lore.
At its core, the competition remains refreshingly traditional. Teams will cook three meats — spare ribs, chicken, and brisket — in accordance with IBCA rules. Judges will name ten finalists in each category, then crown an overall Grand Champion and Reserve Champion. What’s changed is the scale. The 2026 prize purse is guaranteed at a minimum of $20,000, with an additional ten percent of total registration fees added to the pot, pushing the Smokedown into the upper tier of one-day barbecue payouts in Texas.
Growth has also reshaped the event’s physical footprint. The competition area expands east of Niles City Boulevard, allowing for larger prep spaces and a more comfortable layout for teams. VIP competitors will work within 60-by-60-foot spaces, while general teams will work within 40-by-60-foot spaces. Each registered team also receives four general admission tickets to the evening music festival — a reminder that at the Smokedown, barbecue is only half the story.
By late afternoon, the pits cool and the stages heat up. Thousands of fans will pack into the Stockyards for a full day of live music across two outdoor stages. The 2026 lineup leans heavily on Texas identity, led by Whiskey Myers, the Randy Rogers Band, and Amanda Shires — artists whose careers mirror the festival itself, rooted in tradition but unafraid to push boundaries.
Yet the Syndicate Smokedown was never meant to be just another food-and-music weekend. Founded in 2019, the festival is produced by the Fort Worth Stock Show Syndicate, a volunteer-led nonprofit organization that has spent more than thirty years supporting Texas youth in agriculture. Proceeds from the Smokedown help fund scholarships, livestock projects, and educational opportunities for 4-H and FFA students across the state.
That mission extends well beyond festival weekend. Each year, Syndicate members contribute directly to youth-led agricultural projects and participate in the Fort Worth Stock Show’s Junior Sale of Champions, purchasing animals raised by young exhibitors to generate critical funding for their education and future work in agriculture. The group’s Jim Bob Norman Scholarship Fund awards $10,000 scholarships annually to students pursuing ag-related degrees and careers — funding supported in part by the Smokedown itself.
In that context, the barbecue competition becomes something more than a test of seasoning and smoke. It is a public ritual — one that ties brisket to barns, music to mentorship, and weekend entertainment to long-term investment in the state’s agricultural backbone. The smoke drifting through the Stockyards carries a message that goes beyond flavor.
Registration for the 2026 barbecue competition is now open to professional pitmasters and backyard teams nationwide, with limited space and high demand expected in the fifth-anniversary year. Organizers will announce the official pitmaster lineup, celebrity guest judges, and additional festival details in the months ahead.