By MARIA RAKOCZY
news@themadisonrecord.com

MADISON – Railyard BBQ Brawl is bringing the heat to Downtown Madison with a Kansas City style barbecue competition on Oct. 29 for the second year in a row. The competition and music festival is returning from its inaugural cook-off last year. Festival-goers this year will see a flipped field layout from last year, but will remain on the open field on Martin St.

The festivities for competitors begin on Oct. 27 while the festival fun for the public runs from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Oct. 29.

The public can purchase tickets for $20 plus fees which includes barbecue from one of four BBQ Tents, a great atmosphere will free smells from fifty cooking teams, and sweet sounds from musical acts.

The headliner will be country music’s up-and-coming star Walker Montgomery, who will rev up the crowd with his hit, “Out of Nowhere,” written by Corey Crowder, Jared Mullins, Joey Hyde and Morgan Wallen. Montgomery’s playlist includes “Wouldn’t Be a Country Boy,” “You Heard it Here First,” “She Don’t Know” and “Bad Day To Be A Beer.”

Special guests for the brawl’s entertainment will be Dylan Marlowe with his hit single, “I’ll Keep the Country”; The Red Clay Strays band with their new single, “Good Godly Woman”; and the Falcon Punch band with their music, “Tennessee Whiskey.”

Fun for the whole family is available too with kids face painting, balloon animals, and a bounce house.

For those interested in showing off their barbecue skills, the barbecue cook-off welcomes both professionals and amateurs with a professional tier in the official Kansas City Barbecue Society system and a backyard division for those looking for a lighthearted competition. John Seaton, an organizer of the event and owner of Old Black Bear Brewing says the competition has grown from the previous year. They have added a professional division that is looking to earn the distinction as a Jack Daniels Invitational qualifier event.

Organizer Todd Seaton, who owns Old Black Bear in downtown Madison, is looking forward to bringing the event to downtown Madison once again with the help of fellow organizers and sponsors Eugene Jung of Champy’s Chicken, Greg Shaw of Southern Scape Landscaping, and Stephen Holley of Chuckwagon BBQ.

“This event was inspired by a group of local business owners that hear from their patrons and acquaintances every week, saying: ‘I wish there was more to do in Madison’,” Seaton said. “Now we can say we have the BBQ Brawl, we have the Street Fest, we have Trash Panda games…Madison is growing quickly and we need to make sure the things to do are growing with it!”

Visit railyardbbqfest.com to purchase tickets and register for the competition, and follow @railyardbbfest on Twitter for further updates.