OSAGE CITY, Kan. – When you’re in Osage County, you can see and smell the smoke. And it’s springtime. Those two circumstances together signal to locals that it’s time for food and fun at Osage City’s annual BBQ party!
The 23rd annual Smoke in the Spring State BBQ Championship kicks off Friday evening with Osage City’s giant community party, the Taste of Osage City. During Friday’s “Taste,” everyone gets a chance to sample fine smoked BBQ and other special outdoor-cooked fare, cooked up by some of the competition BBQ cooks who will be competing in the Kansas City Barbeque Society sanctioned contest on Saturday. The entire BBQ extravaganza goes on at Osage City’s Jones Park, 517 S. First St.
Friday’s Taste operates on BBQ Bucks, which are used in trade for food, drinks and other items in the park that night. BBQ Bucks will be sold 1-7 p.m. Friday at the Osage City Community Building, in Jones Park, at the concession windows on the south side of the building. They can also be purchased in advance, until 12 p.m. Friday, at Osage City Hall, 201 S. Fifth St., Osage City. (BBQ Bucks from past events can be used at this event.) Food serving begins at 5 p.m. and lasts until it all runs out! Newcomers are advised to arrive early, get your BBQ Bucks and find something good to eat.
The Taste offers more fun than just consuming food – live music and dancing gets underway at 7 p.m. at the OCPR building, where there will also be a beer garden, 4-10 p.m. During the afternoon and early evening, inflatables will be available for kids, depending on weather forecast.
Then as the cookers are firing up their smokers for a night of tending to the next day’s entries, the evening finale stokes up the night sky with fireworks. Provided by Garrett’s Fireworks, Osage City, the fireworks will be shot from south of the OCPR building and can be viewed from anywhere in and around Jones Park.
As the sun comes up Saturday, the park will be smoky, as many of the competitors have been awake since the early morning hours preparing for the day’s competition.
In it’s 23rd year, Smoke in the Spring is widely recognized as one of the best barbecue contests in the Midwest, and this year the competition is highlighted as one of 30 contests nationwide to serve as a qualifier for the BBQ World Cup and Expo. Smoke in the Spring’s 2026 grand champion and reserve champion will be qualified for the April 2027 BBQ World Cup, in Las Vegas, Nev., and compete with 200 teams total for a chance to win $1 million.
At this year’s Smoke in the Spring, 104 cooking teams have signed up to compete Saturday for a total of $25,000 in prize money. Grand champion wins $5,000 and reserve champion will claim $2,500. In addition to the main contest Saturday, this year’s Smoke in the Spring Youth BBQ is also KCBS sanctioned. Youth BBQ happens Friday night, when kid chefs up to 16 years old will compete by preparing one pound of hamburger. Youth BBQ is sponsored by White’s Foodliner, who provides the beef, and the Kansas Beef Council.
Both the kids’ competition and the main competition require judges, and more than 120 certified barbecue judges have been recruited for the contests and will be arriving to Osage City from all over Kansas, Missouri and elsewhere.
For anyone planning to come Friday evening for the Taste of Osage City, here’s how to get here: Osage City is located about 25 miles southwest of Topeka and about 25 miles northeast of Emporia. If arriving to Osage City from the east on state Highway 31, follow the highway west through town, at the jog near Casey’s and Sonic, turn west on Lakin Street. Follow Lakin Street west to the Highway 170 junction. Head south six blocks on Highway 170 (Martin Street) until you are at Jones Park (on the east side of the highway by football stadium.) If coming from the west on U.S. Highway 56, head south on Highway 31 (Martin Street) into town to Market Street, continue south four blocks to Jones Park.
Parking is available in the grassy lot across the street from the football stadium, on side streets where not posted, or at Osage City School parking lots, 420 S. Fourth St. Everyone is welcome!
