Bainbridge Country Club was filled with the smell of slow-cooking meats last Saturday at the second annual Smoke Under the Oaks BBQ festival.

Hot Wachulas took first place in the barbecue tournament, winning the team more than $5,000 in cash and an entry in the World Barbecue Championship in Las Vegas.

“The event itself was a great success,” event organizer Rob McRae said. “Everything went off about as smoothly as we could imagine.”
Friday night’s concerts from the Faith Jackson Band and The Blues Factor Band were popular with attendees, McRae said.

“They rocked the stage,” he said.

Proceeds for the event are to go straight to Decatur County Family Connection and the Humane Society. Although exact numbers aren’t calculated yet, McRae said they should be donating a few thousand to each of them.

Bainbridge resident Debbie McIntyre was the winner of the Big Green Egg drawing contest, where she walked away with a brand new Big Green Egg. Stone’s Home Center also unveiled the new XXL Big Green Egg, big enough to fit an entire person inside.

Next year, McRae plans on mixing up the event even more and bringing a few new surprises to the picnic table.

“We want to move it back a little bit into the fall to avoid the hot weather and gnats,” McRae said. “We plan on making it a little more tailgate-themed with projector screens and some football going on. Barbecue and football goes great together.”