‘Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives’ pitmaster will cook in Whigham in November

Tommy Nevill joins a Red Hills BBQ Fest lineup that includes a Michelin Guide restaurant owner; proceeds benefit the Wolf Creek Trout Lily Preserve and Tall Timbers

WHIGHAM, Ga. — A Florida pitmaster whose restaurant was featured on Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” this spring will drive seven hours to cook in a Grady County hayfield this November.

Tommy Nevill of NEVS Barbecue in Palm Beach Gardens has joined the world-class pitmaster lineup for the Red Hills BBQ Fest, the first-year festival set for Saturday, Nov. 21, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at PB Farms on Attapulgus-Whigham Road. Guy Fieri featured the restaurant’s brisket burnt-end sloppy joes and its beanless Texas-style chili in an episode that aired in April.

Nevill joins a roster that includes Danny Hernandez of The Brisket Shoppe in Tampa, one of only 38 Florida restaurants named to the Michelin Guide in 2026 and Antonio Harris, the Atlanta cook known as Butterknife Shawty, who competed on Food Network’s “Grill of Victory”. Whigham pitmaster Eric Walden of SoCo Smokehouse and Bob Bell of Red Dirt Rich BBQ in Cairo round out the group.

Eric Walden, a festival organizer and the owner of SoCo Smokehouse in Whigham, said the lineup came together better than organizers had expected.

“When we imagined what this could be, we really thought about how to make this event geared towards attracting regional pitmasters, backyard enthusiasts, and of course foodies. We shot for the stars and invited some of the best pitmasters working,” Walden said. “It’s a first year so, we’re thrilled so many of them said yes.”

Walden’s only worry is the calendar. Thanksgiving falls five days after the festival.

“This is going to be some of the best food you’ve ever tasted,” he said. “But don’t show up at your mama’s table Thursday talking about the smoked turkey you had at the Fest. We don’t need to be making enemies out of mama.”

Money raised will be split between the Wolf Creek Trout Lily Preserve and Tall Timbers, the Tallahassee-based research station and land conservancy that has spent decades studying prescribed fire in the Red Hills region. The preserve, a 140-acre county-owned property outside Whigham, protects what is believed to be the largest population of dimpled trout lilies anywhere in the world.

Organizers say the pairing is deliberate.

“Two fires burn across the Greater Red Hills Region,” the festival’s organizers write in describing the event. “One runs low and slow through the pines each winter, prescribed to protect the land we tend, hunt, and fish. The other feeds people and builds community. It’s the one burning at every hunt camp, neighborhood tailgate, and family reunion.”

The visiting pitmasters will cook in a VIP tasting area separate from the main competition. A limited number of VIP tasting experience passes are available at $75 each.

The festival’s competition is open to anyone. Entries are blind-judged across four categories: beef, pork, poultry, and an open category that includes sides, desserts and wild game, with competitors ranging from restaurant owners and circuit teams to backyard cooks, and no team names attached to any entry.

Bob Bell, a festival organizer and the owner of Red Dirt Rich BBQ out of Cairo, said the point of the day is what happens around the pits.

“Barbecue around here is all about building community and bringing our circles together. In South Georgia, it’s what we do for every church picnic, family birthday, and ballgame,” Bell said. “We wanted a day where friends could meet up and a families can make a day of it. The cook-off is just the excuse to go big, to share our love of food, and bring in world-class talent to put the Fest on the map.”

Organizers are still accepting cook teams, food trucks and craft vendors, and community groups and nonprofits can set up a table at no charge. Details are at redhillsbbqfest.com.

Alongside the food, the day will include live music from Southern Shake, NEON and Whigham’s own Johnnie Marshall Band, plus food trucks, a craft beer garden, cornhole, and free bounce houses for children.

General admission is $15, and children 10 and under get in free. Parking is free.

Organizers are still accepting cook teams, food trucks, craft vendors and sponsors. Registration and full details including purchases for the VIP tasting experience are available at redhillsbbqfest.com.

 

ABOUT THE RED HILLS BBQ FEST
The Red Hills BBQ Fest is a one-day barbecue festival and cook-off held at PB Farms in Whigham, Georgia. Net proceeds benefit the Wolf Creek Trout Lily Preserve and Tall Timbers. More at redhillsbbqfest.com.

ABOUT THE WOLF CREEK TROUT LILY PRESERVE
The Wolf Creek Trout Lily Preserve is a 140-acre county-owned property outside Whigham protecting one of the world’s largest known populations of dimpled trout lilies, which bloom for a few weeks each February. wolfcreektroutlilypreserve.org

ABOUT TALL TIMBERS
Founded in 1958, Tall Timbers is a research station and land conservancy working on fire ecology, wildlife research and land conservation across the Red Hills region of South Georgia and North Florida. talltimbers.org

Courtesy of Red Hills BBQ Fest | South Georgia Magazine