When Pigs Fly indoor barbecue contest Jan. 13 in Cape Girardeau

For the fourth year, the Smokin Brothers are bringing the barbecue indoors.

The Cape Girardeau-based wood-pellet grill manufacturer is sponsoring the When Pigs Fly Indoor BBQ Bash, beginning at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 13, at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau. The event organizers promise those who attend will have unparalleled access to the celebrities and influencers in the world of barbecue.

The event is one of the largest indoor barbecue competitions in the world, according to Ryan Eftink, one of the Smokin Brothers. This year, there will be three types of competitions: the Heroes Cup, a steak cook-off and the barbecue contest.

The Heroes Cup is the competition for local veterans and first responders. They will team up with a barbecue celebrity to cook barbecue for attendees to sample. The barbecue celebrities will give the heroes their own tips, tricks and how-to-cook ideas while working together to try to win the overall Heroes Cup. The champion will be chosen by the tip-of-the-boot concept: To vote for who is the best, those attending will put money in a boot, and the team with the most money raised will be the winner. Half of the proceeds per boot will go to the first responder or veteran's charity cause, and the other half will go to the local charity Badges Give Back.

The steak cook-off contest is back again this year and is sponsored by the Steak Cookoff Association (SCA). The SCA has set regulations and rules for the judging, and this year's teams will get the full SCA experience.

The barbecue contest will have 10 competing teams. More than 100 applications were submitted for the contest, Eftink said. Each application had to go through specific criteria, such as the distance from where Smokin Brothers is located, experience level, whether they have been involved before and how unique their submitted video was. Eftink said they wanted to level the playing field as much as possible. Each competitor will cook the same meat on a Smokin Brothers barbecue grill with the same equipment; competitors need to focus only on their craft. For this competition, there will be a People's Choice winner.

This barbecue competition is unique in that it is both indoors and during the winter. Eftink said they always talked about how barbecue season was dead in the winter months and wanted to change that.

"With us being able to have it indoors, it allows us to be open, because then it doesn't matter what the weather is outside. You can come indoors where it's 70 degrees-plus; you can be in shorts and flip flops tasting good barbecue," Eftink said.

This year the master of ceremonies will be Myron Mixon, known as the winningest man in barbecue. Mixon is a five-time world barbecue champion and one of the original people who started Pitmasters. He will be around during the day to talk to attendees as well as entering a team in the Heroes Cup.

Along with Mixon, there will be many other social media stars from the barbecue world.

"The amount of barbecue talent that's going to be under one roof is unmatched. You can go to these big contests and see them, but you're not gonna get to have the access like you have here. You're going to be able to walk up and ask questions. It's gonna be awesome," Eftink said.

Smokin Brothers hope to have more than 2,000 people attend the event.

Along with the competitions going on throughout the day, there will be cooking demos, games, live music, vendors and more. Admission includes sampling of all 10 professionals' booths for barbecue and the Hero's Cup.

Tickets are priced at $30 for those 13 and older; $12 for ages 4 to 12; and kids 3 and younger are free. Tickets may be purchased the day of the event or on the Show Me Center website, showmecenter.biz.

"If you like barbecue or you like food, you should not miss this event," Eftink said.