The art of meat and heat were aflame at the Fifth Annual Western N.C. Barbecue Festival “Smokin’ in the Valley” on Sept. 26-27 in Maggie Valley.

With expensive cookers, secret spices and friendly competition, the only thing up in grills were the unique folks at this festival. From judges to vendors and contenders, people were ready to partake in barbecue bliss.

Some notable first-timers to Maggie Valley were barbecue bigwigs who shared their passions for grilling such as team Buttrub.com, whose motto is “A little butt rub makes everything better.”

Byron Chism of Santa Rosa Beach, Fla., is the founder of Buttrub.com, and was lured into the barbecue scene by a fanatic neighbor who built him a barbecue cooker. That was 10 years ago. He’s been competing in barbecue festivals ever since.

He develops and sells seasoning products and participates in barbecue events to promote his spices as well as compete.

Chism feels barbecue competitions are “intense” because people competing are specialists. He notes that what gives his barbecue an edge is natural ability, experience, and the drive to practice.

Chism’s grilling method is “low and slow with pecan wood,” and he uses a Jed Master and a Big Green Egg cooker.

When it comes to barbecue festivals, Chism claims people might be surprised at “How good of friends we are — the camaraderie is something else.”

Dressed in Dickies overalls, a baseball cap, and sporting a salt and pepper Santa Claus beard, David Roper perused the grounds of the festival.

Nicknamed “Porky,” Roper has been an official Kansas City Barbecue Society judge for over a decade, and lives by the motto, “No wife, no kids, no pets and no plants.”

Roper has a “special” plastic fork in the front of his overalls that he claims Dickies made just for him, “because forks are the first thing to run of out at competitions,” Roper said.

Roper became a judge, he said, because his “momma didn’t raise no fool when it comes to barbecue. Why cook it when you can get paid to eat it.” But he admitted he will barbecue “if she’s real special.”

His favorite piece of barbecue comes from the “middlin” (the middle part of the hog).

For Roper, good barbecue begins with a good piece of meat, proper seasonings, and is smoked and cooked just right, noting he doesn’t care for barbecue sauce.

“Barbecue sauce to me is like steak sauce — I will break out the A1 to get it down,” Roper said.

He acknowledged barbecue competitions can be a “damn expensive hobby,” and when he is not traveling to judge competitions, Roper is a tour guide at the Jack Daniel’s Distillery in Lynchburg, Tenn.

Team Checkered Pig from Martinsville, Va., was comprised of Tommy and Lisa Houston who own the restaurant Pigs-R-Us.

Houston “sleeps, eats and breathes barbecue,” and has done so for the past 27 years. He has been competing for seven years, because as Houston puts it, “barbecue is our life.”

The Houstons have traveled all over the country for barbecue competitions. In 2004 they won the Sparks, Nev., Best of the West barbecue competition and have been featured on the Food Network.

Good barbecue for Houston is made up of spice, smoke and sauce, and when it all comes to together it creates the total package.

“You’re looking for a middle-of-the-road taste everybody can relate to — sweet with a tad bit of heat,” Houston said.

He cooks with a Fast Eddy’s pellet cooker because “you can set it and forget it.”

Taking competition “very serious,” he spends at least $1,000 a weekend to compete.

“Come in the morning, it’s all game faces with everybody,” Houston said.

From sauce to sizzle, anyway you grill, it’s serious business at “Smokin’ in the Valley.”

For more information visit www.wncbbqfestival.org.