The small Hill Country town of Brownwood is going big for its 2026 Feels Like Home Festival, a barbecue and country music event scheduled for Saturday, October 3. A first wave of 10 participating pitmasters has been revealed, including a former Houstonian who's made his mark in a small town.

Joey Victorian started his professional barbecue career in Houston, where his smoked tri-tip earned praise from Houston Chronicle barbecue columnist J.C. Reid. From there, he appeared on season 2 of Netflix's Barbecue Showdown before opening Victorian's Barbecue in Mart, a small town east of Waco.

The first wave of pitmasters at the Feels Like Home Festival are:

• Bosque River Taphouse (Stephenville, TX)
• Brantley Creek Barbecue (Odessa, TX)
• Hill City Chop House (Tolar, TX)
• Hurtado Barbecue (Fort Worth and Arlington, TX)
• Olmos BBQ (Fort Worth, TX)
• Pody's BBQ (Pecos, TX)
• Rossler's Blue Cord Barbecue (Harker Heights, TX)
• Schoepf's BBQ (Belton, TX)
• The Original Roy Hutchins Barbecue (Trophy Club, TX)
• Victorian's Barbecue (Mart, TX)

Brownwood is located between Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin, and Abilene, about a five-hour drive from Dallas. Texas Monthly recently detailed some unique ways to spend the weekend there, a place that's "still obsessed with trains."

“Barbecue has been part of the Feels Like Home experience since day one, and we have always believed it deserves the same level of care and attention that we put into the music lineup,” said festival director Steve Clayton in a statement. “This is about making Feels Like Home more than just another concert or music festival. We want people to come to Brownwood and spend the day discovering incredible country music, eating barbecue from pitmasters they may have driven hours across Texas to try, and enjoying the kind of authentic hometown hospitality that makes this community so special.”

Pitmasters at Feels Like Home have plenty of space to spread out.Photo by Levi Thompson

This year, the third for the festival, organizers have updated the barbecue portion of the experience to allow more time for attendees to try everything.

On the musical side, attendees can expect live performances from:

• Gary Allan
• Scotty McCreery
• Mark Chesnutt
• Jack Ingram
• Caroline Hale

The period between noon and 4 pm will be open for complimentary sampling on the Grass Lawn, which is adjacent to the main stage and more accessible than the previous location. Fans will be able to watch from the barbecue area, so it won't be a tough choice between getting barbecue and enjoying the show. They can also move back and forth between the stage and the barbecue area.

Past attendees haven't just made the drive for a meal. Other activities include mechanical bull riding and axe throwing, and other small interactive elements will offer variety throughout the day.

Feels Like Home will be held at the Brownwood Event Center. Tickets (starting at $82, before a $45 unlimited barbecue add-on) are available at feelslikehomefest.com.