Wyoming State BBQ Championship and Bluegrass Festival

On the third weekend of August, purchases at the Washakie County Fairgrounds in Worland are made in Bone Bucks. They are sold at two Pinnacle Bank stations on the grounds. The organizers say the scrip makes sure vendors are paid properly and keeps admission free. Unused Bone Bucks can be cashed back in at the festival, saved for the next year’s festival, or donated back. None are redeemed after the festival closes.

The fairgrounds lie just northwest of town off State Highway 433, reached by turning from Highway 16/20, in the Big Horn Basin about halfway between Casper and Billings. The festival fills a large grassy field ringed with shade trees, and the organizers advise bringing lawn chairs. No pets are allowed, and no tobacco either. The festival’s general information reads, “BBQ smoking is all that is allowed on the fairground property.” The organizers put the crowd at nearly 2,000.

Brisket, ribs, and a mystery meat

The smoke comes from the competition cookers. The Wyoming State BBQ Championship is sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbecue Society. According to the Washakie County Visitor’s Council’s Bighorn Mountain Country site, teams cook four categories: Beef Brisket, Pulled Pork, Ribs, and Chicken. Sauce and Mystery Meat are extra categories.

The sources give different figures for the field and the purse. The festival’s own site says over 25 teams compete for prizes totaling $15,000. The visitor council counts 30-plus cookers competing for $10,000 plus trophies and ribbons. The City of Worland’s festival page gives prizes of over $7,275. In late July 2026 the festival announced 30 teams entered, with two spots left. All judges are certified and must be KCBS members.

Each year the committee puts together more than 100 welcome buckets for the visiting teams, the KCBS judges, and the volunteers. Worland businesses and townspeople stock them with donated pens, notepads, cups, stickers, coupons, small treats, and Wyoming items. Larger donated items are raffled during the event.

On Saturday afternoon the public gets a vote. People’s Choice tickets cost $25 at the information booth, one per person, and the proceeds go to charity. Competitors who choose to enter set out samples of a chosen meat, and ticket holders vote for their favorite. Tickets are limited.

Fiddle camp, the Gallatin Valley, and Boone

Three bands played the 2026 festival, billed as the 22nd annual by the festival’s general information page and the visitor council (the festival’s home page calls it the 21st).

North Fork Crossing. This five-piece from Bozeman, in the Gallatin Valley, was founded in 2021 out of a friendship rekindled at Montana Fiddle Camp. The members are Cade Slayden on guitar, Ryan Kelly on mandolin, Rabi Phelan on upright bass, Silas Rea on fiddle, and Matt Hickey on banjo. The band plays traditional fiddle tunes and ballads alongside jamgrass improvisation, modern covers, and old time country songs. Its self-titled album, North Fork Crossing (2024), collects songs it has played live since its start.

Release the Squirrels. This quintet formed in 2024 in western Montana. It sings in three-part harmony and names Bill Monroe, the Bluegrass Album Band, and John Reischman’s instrumentals among its roots.

Hillbilly Fever. This band came from farther off.

• Mark Krider leads it on banjo. His bluegrass roots are in the mountains of North Carolina, and he has played banjo and guitar for over 50 years. He has shared stages with the Osborne Brothers, the Country Gentlemen, the Lewis Family, and Blue Highway.
• Ronnie Moretz plays guitar. He is a Boone, North Carolina, native and a lifelong friend of Krider. He began playing at age 11, inspired by Flatt & Scruggs and Doc Watson, and now hosts the Catgut ‘n Jugs Bluegrass Show on Live365 and Bell Buckle Radio.
• Adam Bachman plays resonator guitar. He comes from Tigerville, South Carolina, is now based in Asheville, and has played the Ryman Auditorium.
• Anne Luna plays bass. She has appeared on more than 20 albums and has played the Station Inn and MerleFest with The Hard Road Trio.
• Daniel David plays a Monroe-style mandolin shaped by years with bands along Colorado’s Front Range. He is now based in Arkansas.
• Justin Smith started on country guitar at 12 and has since added mandolin, bass, and dobro.

Brewfest on Thursday, pancakes on Saturday

The festival begins before the barbecue does. In 2026 the Brewfest opened Thursday, August 13, at 5 p.m. Adults 21 and over with a wristband sampled craft beers, and brats, pork sandwiches, lemonade, water, and Pepsi products were sold to everyone else. Opening ceremonies for the barbecue followed at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, August 14. The Kids Q, a barbecue contest for children, runs Friday evening, and a Kid Zone holds activities through the weekend, some for a nominal fee.

Saturday starts early:

• Bluegrass 5K Walk & Run. Registration opens at 7:30 a.m. on the fairgrounds, and the race starts at 8:00. In 2026 the proceeds went to the local high school team.
• Pancake breakfast. It is served afterward, next to the stage.
• Car show. It fills the fairgrounds parking arena from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Events run until 10 p.m. Saturday.

On Sunday morning, August 16, 2026, the festival asked for volunteers at 9:30 a.m. to clear the grounds. The post noted that a few people take about three days to set everything up and nearly a full day to take it down.

Dale Wagner’s committee

The festival began in 2004 with barbecue and bluegrass, and the car show, Brewfest, Kids Q, and 5K came later. The money still comes partly from the town. In April 2026, Chubby Cheeks BBQ cooked the annual fundraiser: pulled pork or beef brisket with baked beans and coleslaw, ordered ahead by phone, online, or at Pinnacle Bank.

In July 2015 the Northern Wyoming Daily News previewed the 11th annual Pepsi Wyoming State BBQ and Bluegrass Festival, set for August 14-15. Event Chairman Dale Wagner announced the year’s backing:

• The Rocky Mountain Power Foundation had once again granted $2,500.
• Devon Energy had donated $2,000.
• The Wyoming Arts Council supported what Wagner said the council considered a community building event.

Letters had also gone out to Worland merchants, service providers, and citizens. The paper photographed Wagner with Val Busch of the fundraising committee and Craig Nelson, the foundation’s customer and community manager.

The same year, the Rocky Mountain BBQ Association named the festival its Event of the Year. Teams and judges had voted it the best organized and run RMBBQA CUP contest of the 2013 season, and they did so again for 2017 and 2022.

Wagner had planned to move to the cooking side. By the August 2016 festival, the 12th, Dave Paxton was organizing it for the first time. “It is kind of an unfortunate event (how I became this year’s organizer), but I started working with Dale Wagner last year and learning the things he was doing because he wanted to get into the cooking aspect of the barbecue,” Paxton told the paper. “When he passed away in the spring I’ve been figuring it out ever since.”

That year Busch counted 27 competitive cookers, two more than the 25 needed for KCBS sanction. She said cookers came from all over the country to earn points for national rankings. The 2015 field had represented seven states and five Wyoming communities. “It’s a nice collection of folks,” Busch said. The 2015 winner was Rooftop BBQ of Menifee, California, owned by Andy and Samantha Allen, with Andy as primary cook.

To shorten food lines in 2016, five of the competitive cookers also sold to the public. Finnders & Youngberg, Newsouth Fork Bluegrass, and Old Blue played. The Worland High School music department sold snow cones, the senior class ran a dunk booth, and St. Alban’s had a dessert booth. Tim and Tami Young gave kids rides on a 4-wheeler. “I think the cooler weather is going to be to our advantage,” Busch said.

That Saturday the 5K BBQ Bluegrass Run, then in its second year, opened the festivities at 8 a.m. Organizer Tanya Kienlen ran the Worland High School cross-country team as a separate division. Dusty Smith of Greybull won the other division in 22:08. A newspaper photograph caught Mae Smith, also of Greybull, racing Worland High School runner Brooke Seidel to the finish line.