VIDALIA — As competitors got ready to fire up their grills for the Jim Bowie Festival State Championship and Barbecue Throwdown Friday, Kacie Boyette put a photo of her brother in a frame.

“I just wanted to have a little something here, something for my brother,” Boyette said.

Her older brother, Rodney Williams, competed in last year’s throwdown in honor of his daughter, who had died of brain cancer in May 2014.

Williams, who had been diagnosed only a month before his daughter died in January from brain cancer. This year, Boyette came back to compete under the team name of Rodney Strong BBQ.

Boyette said she always wanted to be like her brother growing up.

“I guess this is just me still trying to do everything my big brother does,” Boyette said.

Williams loved barbecue and would take over the grill wherever he went, Boyette said. His cousin, Jesse Wiley, agreed.

“He was going to show you the right way,” Wiley said.

Williams and his then 12-year-old daughter, Payton, were both diagnosed with different types of cancer in 2013. While at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., they visited every barbecue place.

But Boyette said Williams’ daughter preferred his barbecue, and he would grill for her at the Ronald McDonald House.

Payton died in May 2014, and Williams named his team Payton’s Place BBQ in honor of her last year. Boyette said he was very scrupulous over the details when he came to compete.

“Nobody could do it the way it needed to be done,” Boyette said.

Even though Williams didn’t place last year, Jeff Petkevicius from the Give It To God team gave Williams his reserve trophy.

Petkevicius said he met Williams at the throwdown and heard his story.

“That’s what a champion is,” Petkevicius said.

And it’s the moment he gave the trophy to Williams which is immortalized in Boyette’s photo, and will be displayed with other photos as well as the trophy.

“Just seeing the look on his face, he couldn’t believe I was doing it,” Petkevicius said.

After Williams died and Boyette decided to enter the competition, she considered keeping Williams’ team name. In the end, she decided against it.

“Only he could cook for Payton’s Place BBQ,” Boyette said.

So she named her team after her brother and, alongside Jeremy Wood, Scott Bean, Lissa Pecanty and Kydnall Hardie, entered the contest.

Those are only the official team members though.

“Every member of our family is on this team,” Boyette said.

Boyette said her mother told her not to be upset and Williams would be there telling her how to do it right.

Williams, Boyette said, had told her she couldn’t cook as well as he could.

“I know he’s rolling his eyes,” Boyette said.

But Boyette also felt her brother would be proud.

“He’d just want to be here,” Boyette said.

The festival and throwdown will last from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. today. Admission is $5 for adults. Children 12 and younger are free.

Barbecue awards will be presented at 5:30 p.m.