EVENT: The Barbeque Festival
If you’re in or around Lexington, North Carolina at the end of the month, or want a good excuse for a road trip, you may want to stop by their 24th annual Barbeque Festival on October 27th. Called “one of the top 10 food festivals of the US” by Food & Leisure Magazine, you’re sure to find something here for everyone in your family.
Admission is free and the BBQ tents open at 10 am, paving the way for the expected 100,000 visitors. Yup, 100,000 visitors in one day along an eight-block stretch in Uptown Lexington. The festival is open from 8:30 am until 6 pm and will feature live music on several stages, rides and games for the kids, crafts (over 400 exhibitors!), wine tastings, and oh yes, BBQ food.
From the BBQ Festival’s very own website, “The festival is for people of all ages and includes a special section of rides and games for children, Piglet Land. Barbecue is served at three locations through the festival area. These are amazing places where no fewer than 35 people work beneath each red and white tent chopping barbecue, fixing slaw, and serving French fries. Here from Mission Central, the heart of the Festival, comes the special Festival barbecue, which is a result of the combined effort of seven masters of the trade.”
“What makes Lexington barbecue so special? The fare is pork, of course - and shoulder is the cut of choice in Lexington. The pork shoulders are cooked long and slow - about an hour a pound - over hickory wood until it is fall apart tender. The shoulders are basted with “dip”, a mixture of vinegar, ketchup, water, salt, and pepper. As the dip and fat drip onto the coals, smoke is created that rises up, surrounds and permeates the meat, and gives it a rich, smokey flavor. The meat is served chopped, although sliced can be requested, with more of the basting sauce on the side. Barbecue from Lexington is so famous that Craig Claiborne included it on the menu of the Williamsburg Economic Summit, where the world’s leaders got a taste of real American food. Some restaurants offer “air-express” barbecue delivery, where they overnight barbecue requests all over the United States.”
Photo from AOL Travel.
