BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – Springville's John Coon smoked the competition on Saturday night's episode of "BBQ Pitmasters" and moved one step closer to the reality cooking show's grand prize of $50,000.

John Coon is a man in search of perfection. Coon, a 43-year-old Springville resident, makes his living both in construction and at the barbecue pit. As a cook, he says, the goal is always perfection.

T-Coon’s is a masculine paradise. The Lafayette restaurant has no frills, a lot of reasonably priced food, and family fishing photographs decorating the walls alongside Rockin’ Dopsie Jr. and a boat ...

John Coon, right, of Springville, Ala., and his House of Q teammate Russ Lannom of Mount Juliet, Tenn., competed on the 2014 season of Destination America's "BBQ Pitmasters," where they advanced to ...

The venue is set for Hampshire's Coon Creek Country Days. The 37th annual festival runs from 6 to 10 p.m. Thursday; 6 p.m. to midnight Friday; 1 p.m. to midnight Saturday; and 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday, Aug.