Event/Site: The Barbecue Festival in Downtown Lexington

Date: Fourth Saturday in October, 9:00am - 6:00pm. 

Type: Festival with five music stages, featuring "any kind of music you can imagine" with a good dose of bluegrass, and showcasing local and national musicians; food, crafts and children's activities.

Location: The Barbecue Festival is located in uptown Lexington, NC. An eight-block stretch of Main Street is closed to traffic, with banners at either end announcing the festival. (Travel Center at 1 N. Main St.). Lexington is located 20 miles south of Winston-Salem on US Hwy 52, and is also accessible off I-85 and Business I-85 between Greensboro and Charlotte. Click here for a map.

Cost: Free.

Parking: Civic and non-profit organizations raise funds by providing parking. Free satellite parking with $1 shuttle bus fee. Parking adequate for bus tours.

Special Needs Access: Venue is fully accessible.

Signage: Signs at location and en route.

Sponsor: Numerous civic and commercial sponsors.

Web Site: www.barbecuefestival.com

Contact:
Stephanie K. Saintsing, CFE
The Barbecue Festival
PO Box 1642
Lexington, NC 27293
(336) 956-1880
ss@barbecuefestival.com

Description of Event: Estimates of well over a hundred thousand people visit Lexington for the annual Barbecue Festival, one of the country's most popular and well-known food festivals. The music schedule is eclectic, and includes bluegrass, Southern gospel, jazz, and country. Barbecue, slaw, and french fries are served out of three large main tents, intentionally reminiscent of Lexington's first barbecue restaurant, also a tent. Barbecue is center-stage in this popular food festival, but it is well-surrounded with musical entertainment, kids activities, and crafts.

History of Site/Event: The Barbecue Festival began in 1984. Lexington, North Carolina, is renowned for barbecue. Lexington's first barbecue restaurant opened in 1919, a tent set up by Sid Weaver in the middle of the road. Today there are more than twenty barbecue restaurants in this city of 20,000.

Description of Site/Facility: In uptown Lexington, eight blocks of Main Street are closed to traffic, with five entertainment stages and hundreds of exhibitors scattered throughout the festival site. During the month of October, the festival spills out into the city with the Tour de Pig, the annual cycling event benefiting the Mental Health Association in Davidson County, a golf tournament, tennis tournament, Hawg Run, softball tournament, and cheer-off.

Significance of Site/Event to the Community: A festival focusing on a regional food tradition could hardly take place without featuring regional music traditions. Western Piedmont "slow-cooking" pork rituals have long been associated with regional music, especially bluegrass and gospel. You just can't do one without the other. The Barbecue Festival organizers, attentive to detail and historical reference, have included the region's fine traditional musicians in scheduling their diverse entertainment stages.