In May of 2015, Jason Cole (Hot Cole’s BBQ) & Jeff Hite (Buckshot Malone’s Pig Shack) were competing at a Sam’s Club event in Hendersonville, TN. During the weekend, the topic of all the barbecue competitions that were not coming back in 2016 was discussed. One of those not coming back was the Music City BBQ Festival in Nashville. Jeff and Jason both thought with the popularity of Music City, there should be a competition in Nashville. Both have competed separately for years but neither have ever organized a BBQ competition. They decided “why not us?”. At the end of the event, they agreed to talk about next steps to move their idea forward. After a couple of weeks, Jeff and Jason spoke about different locations that could hold the event and have the infrastructure needed for teams and judges. Searching out locations around Nashville, they toured Nashville Shores RV & Waterpark, just outside downtown Nashville and on the shores of Percy Priest Lake. After meeting with their management, they agreed to hold the first competition at Nashville Shores. That’s were ‘Smoke on the Shores’ got its name. The first event was in March of 2016 with 49 master series teams. The competition grew in 2017 to 62 teams and to 87 teams in 2018.

In late February and early March of 2019, Nashville experienced the most rain it had seen in years. This caused major flooding throughout Nashville, leaving Nashville Shores RV Park underwater. On Monday before the competition, Jeff & Jason visited Nashville Shores and realized that they had to either cancel or move the competition. They knew everyone would understand if they had to cancel, but with all the coordination and planning that Jeff and Jason had done, not to mention the preparation all the teams and judges had done, Jason asked for 24 hours to find a new location. After a few phone calls, he met with the representatives from the James E Ward Agricultural Center, home of the Wilson County Fair, located fifteen minutes down the interstate in Lebanon, TN. Although the Agricultural Center had multiple events going on that weekend, they had space available with the infrastructure (power and water) that would accommodate the competition, thus saving the 2019 event. Jason and Jeff knew after their first year at the James E Ward Agricultural Center, their problem that they were faced with may have accidentally taken their competition to the next level. This facility had the infrastructure to allow them to grow the competition and not have to worry about the challenges they could possibly face at Nashville Shores. So, the decision was somewhat of an easy one and since then, Smoke on the Shores has been held at the Fairgrounds in Lebanon, TN and continues to grow year after year. Unfortunately, there wasn’t an event in 2020 due to Covid but was resumed in 2021. In 2023, a backyard competition was added making Smoke on the Shores one of the largest competitions in the nation, drawing teams and judges from all over the country and even a few from around the world.

None of this would continue to be possible without their partnership with the Agricultural Center. The support of the sponsors, teams, judges, KCBS, dedicated volunteers, and the Smoke on the Shores team who work throughout the year to make this event successful and run smoothly.

From the beginning, Jeff and Jason had a goal to host one of the best competitions on the barbecue trail, while still being able to give back to their chosen charities. They have been blessed to give thousands of dollars to various charities. The chosen charities that they have supported over the years have been St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, Operation BBQ Relief, Operation Stand Down Tennessee, and The American Cancer Society. To learn more about the charities Smoke on the Shores supports, please visit the “organizations we support” page.

Smoke on the Shores is a 501c3 non-profit organization