Barbecue Festival kicks off

In fact, Joe Sink, the event’s honorary chairman and the driving force behind the Barbecue Festival being established, said the festival was “every bit as big as last year.” Last year, Sink estimated that 200,000 people attended the Barbecue Festival.

“Because the weather was so good, plus the economy is horrible and this is a free event, I think the crowd was as big as last year,” said Sink, the former publisher of The Dispatch, which serves as primary co-sponsor of the event along with BBT. “ It just continues to amaze me how much people like it.”

People turned out in droves for the Barbecue Festival. They enjoyed music, vendors, exhibits and tons of barbecue.

“The crowd has been phenomenal,” said Stephanie K. Saintsing Naset, the festival’s executive director. “We are very fortunate with the absolute perfect day weather wise.”

Five restaurants — The Barbecue Center, Jimmy’s Barbecue, Smokey Joe’s Barbecue, Speedy’s Barbecue and Stamey’s Barbecue — cooked up 15,000 pounds of barbecue for the event. Sonny Conrad, the owner of The Barbecue Center, said the restaurants were “looking for the largest day we ever had.” The restaurants came together to provide four tents.

Earlier in the day, Lee Jessup, the master of ceremonies, said organizers were expecting more than 150,000 people to attend the festival.

“Welcome to uptown Lexington, the home of Bob Timberlake, Richard Childress, the Childress winery and 28th Annual Barbecue Festival, the largest one-day festival in the state,” Jessup said at the festival’s opening ceremonies at the Grandstand. “… We want to welcome you to the barbecue capital of the world. It’s going to be a great day. We are going to have this whole downtown area filled with first-class entertainment, shows, exhibits and the best barbecue in the whole wide world.”

Mayor John Walser also provided remarks at the opening ceremonies.

“This is my favorite day of the year,” he said. “I love being here. There is something about this crowd that just invigorates me. … We are happy you have joined us on this special day, the 28th anniversary of this great festival. This is a great day of fun, food and celebration. We are grateful of the owners and chefs of the five barbecue restaurants up on stage today who have served pit-cooked hickory smoked barbecue for years.”

Conrad presented Walser with the Barbecue Festival’s first sandwich.

“Don’t you just envy me a little bit?” Walser asked the crowd as he accepted the sandwich.

“Mighty good,” the mayor said after biting into the sandwich.

The opening ceremonies were just the beginning of an exciting day in Lexington. The festival featured hundreds of vendors, six stages of music and dozens of entertainment attractions to celebrate Lexington’s barbecue heritage. Radio station Q104.1′s Q-Jam featured Chris Cagle, Corey Smith, James Wesley and Love and Theft.

Wesley said he and Cagle performed in Baton Rouge, La., on Friday night and arrived in North Carolina on Saturday morning by plane. Appearing at the Barbecue Festival for the first time, Wesley was impressed. He called it a privilege to perform at events such as the Barbecue Festival.

“It’s huge,” he said prior to taking the stage. “We walked over to Main Street just a while ago, and it was packed. That was maybe 11:30 a.m.”

Ashley Parrish, a 21-year-old senior at High Point University, was anxious for the Q-Jam to begin Saturday afternoon.

“I do a radio show at my campus radio station,” she said. “I kind of try to go to stuff like this just to hear the artists I haven’t heard before. I have listened to country music for a long time, so I am really looking forward to hearing Chris Cagle because he has been around for a while, as well as Love and Theft. I am just excited to hear this.”

J.D. Cranford and his girlfriend, Kelly Owens, both of Asheboro, were among the large crowd that watched the Q-Jam at the Grandstand.

“It’s great,” Cranford said of the country music entertainment. “It’s good that they bring out this young entertainment.”

Kennedy and Royalyn Thomas of High Point attended the Barbecue Festival for the second consecutive year. Kennedy said he and his wife returned to the festival because of all of its “good people.”

“I also like the turkey legs,” he said.

Chris Young of Clover, S.C., and his 4-year-old granddaughter, Ciarra Beck of Lexington, enjoyed the Hogway Speedway. While holding his granddaughter on his shoulders to see the pigs race, Young said he and his granddaughter have been to the last four Barbecue Festivals.

“This is one of the highlights,” Young said of the Hogway Speedway. “We always have a good time with this. It’s fun to watch when you are little and it’s fun to watch when you’re old.”

Darrick Ignasiak can be reached at 249-3981, ext. 217, or at [email protected].

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