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LEXINGTON,N.C. — Lexington’s 41st Barbecue Festival gets underway Saturday.
The event attracts close to 200,000 people who come out every year to sample some of the sweetest, spiciest and most savory barbecue the region has to offer.
Lexington Tourism Authority executive director Morgan Brinkle said barbecue is built into the city’s traditions.
“It is said that that’s how the judge was back in the late 1800s, early 1900s knew to break for lunch, just because he could smell the smoke coming from the barbecue pits back here,” she said while walking “Barbecue Alley.”
Now, each year the city celebrates at the Lexington Barbecue Festival. The day has become the community’s largest event of the year.
“Most of the people that do come to our barbecue festival come from out of town, and we get people from all over the United States. This is a huge economic driver for the city. We have historically had as many as 200,000 people come out to this festival,” Brinkle said.
Brinkle said the town gets into in prep mode ahead of the event.
“We work all year long promoting the barbecue festival. As soon as one ends, we start on the next one to promote it,” she said. “The city, the sponsors, the festival managers, everyone who has anything to do with the festival is prepping, all the barbecue restaurants, of course.”
The Barbecue Center has provided food for all 41 years of the festival and is one of the event’s longest-running participating restaurants.
Owner Cecil Conrad said the event helps bring in customers and visitors to the city all year long.
“It’s over $10 million for a single day in Lexington. It’s great for us, great for our community. And it certainly helps us with our business, and it helps other people in town as well,” Conrad said.
The festival is in Uptown Lexington.
Exhibits start at 8:30 a.m. Saturday with barbecue tents opening at 10 a.m.
Free parking and shuttles will operate from Childress Vineyards and Walmart Supercenter.
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Sasha Strong
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