Lexington Barbecue Festival
The Lexington Barbecue Festival is an annual festival in Lexington in the U.S. state of North Carolina. With about 150,000 visitors a year, it is the largest barbecue festival of the state and, together with Memphis in May and the International Bar -BQ Festival in Kentucky the largest in the United States.
The festival takes place at one of the last Sundays in October. However, finding the whole month of October ( in Lexington the "Barbecue Month" ) on barbecue -related events: the Tour de Pig, a bicycle race, a three-mile - Hawg Run, a beauty contest, golf, tennis and softball competitions as well as a cheerleader competition with barbecue theme.
On Sunday, the day begins with the Parade of Pigs, in which a moving truck and decorated artificial pig passes through the town. For the festival, even a large downtown area is blocked, on the approximately 400 dealers spread their wares and sell. In addition, include music stages, an art exhibition, children's rides ( in the piglet country) and other major event typical of the program. In addition to the barbecue, which is cooked in the BBQ restaurants in the city and private, to sell three tents on the Veranstaltungsglände annually 12,000 lbs barbecue. Since 2003, provide businessmen and others from May to Lexington Barbecue Festival decorated life-size fiberglass pigs front of their shops on. The collected pigs are then exhibited at the Barbecue Festival.
The festival was founded in 1984. It refers to " Everybody's - Day " events in Lexington, dating to the beginning of the 20th century. In this case it was a public barbecue cooking within a neighborhood that spread to whole weeks within a few years. After 1919 Sid Weaver and George Ridenhour had opened the first permanent barbecue restaurant in town, soon followed by other entrepreneurs, the custom of public barbecues weakened and disappeared sometime quite. 1977 urged the local journalist Jerry Bledsoe, the revival of this tradition and met lively public approval, but little practical implementation of this proposal. Only a merger of the larger BBQ restaurants in the city could the tradition of the public city-wide barbecues revive.
Lexington stands for one of the two barbecue traditions of North Carolina. While in the coastal area of the state, especially whole pig with vinegar or mustard flavored, is the Lexington- style pork shoulder with a vinegar - ketchup sauce. On the coast there are numerous smaller competitions, however, the Barbecue Festival - life of the Piedmont region focuses on the Lexington Festival. Although 1995 was held the closing ceremony of the Coast barbecue competitions in Lexington, the state internal rivalry is still large enough that North Carolina House of Representatives Lexington 2007, only the " official food festival in the Piedmont " region appointed as an appointment as State Festival the east coast would have a lasting tune.