The Lexington Barbecue Festival is a one-day

food festival A food festival is a festival, that uses food, often produce, as its central theme. These festivals have always been a means of uniting communities through celebrations of harvests and giving thanks for a plentiful growing season. History Food ...

held each October in

Lexington, North Carolina Lexington is the county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term ...

, the "Barbecue Capital of the World." Each year it attracts as many as 200,000 visitors to the uptown Lexington area to sample the different foods from up to 20 different area restaurants, dozens of visiting food vendors, and hundreds of other vendors. The annual event is listed in the book ''1000 Places to See in the USA & Canada Before-You-Die'', a part of the series based on the best-selling ''

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''. In 2012, the '' U.S. News & World Report'' ranked Lexington as #4 on its list of the best cities for barbecue.

History

The idea for an annual festival was first brought up in 1983 by Joe Sink, Jr., publisher of Lexington's daily newspaper, ''

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''. He approached the bank

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, which agreed to look into the idea and hired Kay Saintsing, a local organization developer and manager, to conduct a study of the feasibility of such a festival. The investigation concluded that the festival was a valid idea, as Lexington was already a popular weekend destination for barbecue, and the first festival was held October 27, 1984. The Lexington Barbecue Festival was to become one of the nation's most popular food festivals. The first festival attracted 30,000 people, and the barbecue chefs cooked 3,000 pounds of barbecue to meet demand; by 1994, attendance had risen to over 100,000, and 11,000 pounds of meat were cooked. In 1995, the North Carolina Championship Pork Cook-Off was held in conjunction with the festival, allowing visitors from the Piedmont to watch whole-hog cooking experts from the eastern part of the state demonstrate their methods. The festival is held each October in uptown Lexington. Several city blocks on main street, are closed to vehicle traffic for the event. Besides barbecue, there are typically over 400 other vendors of arts and crafts, homemade

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and other wares. Over the years, sponsors have included Childress Vineyards,

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, BB&T,

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, and other large and local corporations. When the festival first started in 1984, the participants were primarily local restaurants and a few local merchants. Since then it has grown to hundreds of vendors displaying every type of product. While the primary focus is still the barbecue, a large number of merchants sell other items that are unique to the area. Some of the more notable restaurants participating include Jimmy's Barbecue (now defunct) and Stamey's Barbecue. There'll be smaller activities and many events that may be virtual in 2020, caused by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

25th Anniversary

The 25th Anniversary Lexington Barbecue Festival was held on Saturday, October 25, 2008. The anniversary event included a 50-ton sand sculpture featuring pigs on a cake, six musical acts, an antique car show, arts and crafts, BMX biking, and other events. Musical acts included General Johnson and Chairmen of the Board,

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, Adam Gregory,

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, and

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, as well as regional and local performers. For this event and in following years,

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provided a special one-day stop in Lexington for riders from nearby

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

and

Raleigh Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the Southeas ...

North Carolina. The overall turnout was approximately 100,000 people, down from the 150,000 that came in 2007. Rain and the 2008 economic recession were cited as likely reasons for the lower turnout.

"Pork-Barrel Politics"

While the focus of the festival is Lexington style barbecue, several vendors of the eastern variety can also be found, sparking mild (and sometimes not so mild) controversy. The battle of Lexington style vs. eastern style has even gone as far as the state government. In 2006, ''North Carolina House Bill 21'' and ''North Carolina Senate Bill 47'' were introduced and would have made the Lexington Barbecue Festival the official barbecue festival of

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

. A separate amended bill, North Carolina House Bill suggested making the Lexington Barbecue Festival the official food festival of North Carolina. Neither garnered enough support to pass, as nearly half of the state favors the eastern style barbecue, sparking genuine controversy about the bill incidentally creating an "official state barbecue" (as opposed to just the festival) with either Lexington or eastern style. One example of the more light-hearted feud that exists between the proponents of the two types of barbecue is when author Jerry Bledsoe, the self-professed "world's leading, foremost barbecue authority." claimed that Dennis Rogers, (columnist for The Raleigh News & Observer and self-professed "oracle of the holy grub.") "has ruined any chances of this state being distinguished in its barbecue." While a degree of humor is involved, choice of barbecue type is a politically charged topic.

Official status

In 2007, NC House Bill 433 passed, granting the Lexington Barbecue Festival the title "Official Food Festival of the Piedmont Triad Region of the State of North Carolina". By excluding the eastern part of the state when making an official designation, they effectively bypassed any controversy regarding eastern barbecue and avoided any style of barbecue being considered the "official" barbecue for the State of North Carolina.

Other activities

Some of the other activities include lumberlack games, live music from up to five different stages, and street performers. Image:Lexington Barbecue Festival - lumberjack 1.jpg, Axe throwing contest Image:Lexington Barbecue Festival - lumberjack 2.jpg, Fastest double cut chainsaw contest Image:Lexington Barbecue Festival - Band Thrift Shop Jack.jpg, Swing music Image:Lexington Barbecue Festival 2008 - caterpiggar.jpg, One of dozens of pigs on parade Image:Lexington Barbecue Festival - Juggler.jpg, Acrobatics performed on the street Image:Lexington Barbecue Festival - Pig balloon.jpg, Pig-related souvenirs and balloons Image:Lexington Barbecue Festival - Clydesdales.jpg,

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References

External links

Official websiteLexington Tourism AuthorityStamey's BarbecueNorth Carolina Barbecue Society
{{coord missing, North Carolina Barbecue Festivals in North Carolina Tourist attractions in Davidson County, North Carolina Food and drink festivals in the United States Annual events in North Carolina Recurring events established in 1984 1984 establishments in North Carolina