Hot Date: July 26, First Day to Buy Tickets to Texas Monthly’s BBQ Festival on September 23

The countdown clock on Texas Monthly’s BBQ Festival site reads 57 days, but the more immediately important date is July 26. Why? Because by July 27, all the tickets to the third annual one-day ‘cue fest down in Austin will probably be gone, snapped up by our friends in Austin (motto: Don’t Dallas our Austin), who know good bbq when they smell it.

As with the past three TexMoBBQ Fests, this one promises to be a doozy. Nearly half of Texas’ top 50 bbq joints will be at serving unlimited samples of their ‘cue and sides to a sold-out crowd on the banks of Lady Bird Lake. The event runs from 1-5 pm on Sunday, September 23. That’s an easy down-and-back day drive. I’ve attended each year, and the food is even better than you can imagine. Never tried Franklin’s or Snow’s, the top two bbq joints in the state? Here’s your chance, and you don’t even have to wait in a two-hour line.

This year, the festival is really smoking’ hot– Justin Fourton and his Pecan Lodge (Dallas Farmers Market) will be the featured newcomer, sampling his highly regarded ribs, brisket and burnt ends.

Here’s the roundup of the committed attendees. A single $58 ticket gets you access to every morsel of the good stuff.