Jacksonville BBQ Festival Tickets

We had a great time. Awesome food and drinks and the weather was perfect. Looking forward to going again this year!!

Purchased VIP pass and had a good time. Recommend that every vendor has more space between them therefore more visitors can see the demonstrations. I liked the setup of the VIP Pit area but it still needs to have more seating. I suspect whoever came up with the layout of the event didn’t expect the crowd that showed up. One negative, the band by the main entrance was so loud you couldn’t hardly hear the vendors or the person you were with. Pappys SmokeHouse BBQ was awesome. We’ll definitely go again next year.

The food was delicious. I am still thinking about those nachos and brisket. The drinks were great. Glad that I got to try new food and drinks. The kids enjoyed as well. Can't wait till Next Year.

Plenty of BBQ to try with the pit pass but was difficult to figure out where the VIP sections were and once you found them, it was difficult to figure out where or how to order. Once we figured it out, things went smoother. Went to VIP drinks and couldn’t get any Coors or wine, which seemed odd. Finally, we would have liked to be able to get some desert but didn’t see any. Overall good experience for the last day of the event.

Loved the BBQ festival, Live music, beer and great BBQ! Does not get better than that! Demonstrations were an added bonus! Small tweak may have been to add more craft or local brewery and perhaps competition thrown in. The venue was perfect, Daily's place and the stadium. Never felt crowded although I did go on Sunday and weather was a bit overcast. Definitely had the St Louis vibe going as the promoter was terrific and from St. Louis. VIP passes were a great touch as well and set up perfectly. Looking forward to next year!

They organized it great. Having it divided up by time slots and days was effective in it not being overcrowded and/or having to wait on your food or drinks. The set up with the VIP vs. the general admission was also clutch. The food was very good; great variety. I would definitely attend again.

While I didn’t go in with a long list of expectations, I still left disappointed (and hungry). I bought VIP tickets for my S/O for Christmas, who is a huge fan of BBQ. When we arrived, we somehow missed where you were supposed to check in for VIP tickets (we came from the left, the sign was waaay to the right). We ended up asking someone that worked there where to go, she responded and waved her hand… “I don’t know, somewhere over there?”. After we stopped another customer to ask where to go, we came back in to find things were laid out for the VIP tickets really well. Most of the vendors were set to either side of a VIP area, so you went into one area and ate from both places, plus drinks and had a table to sit at. What I am disappointed with was the food. We picked the 2-4:30PM timeslot, and by 3:00PM, three of the 15-or-so vendors we stopped at ran out of food. One even posted a sign that they would have more (chicken wings) after 4:30PM. How convenient. Plus they had only one vendor with chicken, while everything else was beef/pork ribs. BBQ is so much more than "ribs." So we paid top dollar to get into an event that was free to the public, and didn’t get to eat at some places because we weren’t first in line. I’d ask for a partial refund if I could.

Food choices were good! VIP tickets are the way to go considering the amount of money they charge for a small taste of food. One stand had two tablespoons of Hatch Mac n cheese they were charging $4 for (which wasn’t even very good). It is a cashless event but you need cash to tip the bartenders. The signage for the various pit master food locations was not very good. The pedestrian flow could have been handled better. All in all this was a good event and with some minor tweaking it could be a great event!

Overall a great event. Plenty of food and demos to watch. Parking was an easy in and out. The only thing that I thought needed improvement was the quality of the side dishes. Many served a generic slaw. With the quality of the pit masters , I expected more.

This event was wonderful event that should be an annual event in Jacksonville. The BBQ was wonderful with many selections to choose from. VIP was the way to go.