In which North Carolina city is the annual Barbecue Festival held?

The annual Barbecue Festival is held in Lexington, North Carolina. Known as the Lexington Barbecue Festival, it takes place each October in the city’s uptown area and celebrates the region’s distinctive pork-barbecue tradition.

The festival was first held on October 27, 1984, after local newspaper publisher Joe Sink Jr. proposed the idea and a feasibility study found that Lexington was already attracting barbecue visitors. Its first event drew about 30,000 people, with chefs cooking roughly 3,000 pounds of barbecue.

The festival grew dramatically, attracting as many as 200,000 visitors in later years. Alongside barbecue from local restaurants, the event features food vendors, arts and crafts, live music, street performers, and other entertainment. Several downtown blocks are closed to traffic during the celebration.

Lexington’s barbecue is part of North Carolina’s long-running eastern-versus-western style debate. Lexington-style barbecue typically uses pork shoulder, a vinegar-and-tomato “red” sauce, and red slaw. In 2007, the state officially designated the event the Food Festival of the Piedmont Triad region, avoiding a statewide barbecue-style dispute.