Barbecue Festival kicks off

barbecue

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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Seniors enjoy a taste of Barbecue Festival

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Seniors enjoy a taste of Barbecue Festival

(From our International RSS feeds)

The Senior Pig Out Party has become an important tradition each year for nearly 100 citizens from several parts of Davidson County.

Whether it’s for socializing, playing games, partying, listening to live music or eating some barbecue, the Davidson County Department of Senior Services was the place to be Wednesday for the eighth annual party.

“I like everything,” said Jim Young, who came with his wife, Shirley. “The singing is good, the food is good, it’s all wonderful. I appreciate them doing this. We love it. We’re having fun.”

Each year three days before the annual Barbecue Festival, senior citizens have their own barbecue festivity to celebrate the city’s famous heritage. The party, sponsored by the Barbecue Festival, was created to accommodate older adults who are not able to attend the festival for different reasons, whether due to health problems, an inability to do all the walking or being unable to handle the large crowd.

“This is the time for them to be able to celebrate with a good meal, good entertainment and fellowship,” said Judy Taylor, nutrition site manager for the department of senior services. “They just get in here early to get a seat. They’re just thrilled. It’s the one time of the year other than Christmas they are thrilled to be here. We’re having fun and looking forward to eating.”

Seniors played a couple of games, which gave them the chance to win official festival souvenirs. Chris Robbins created balloon designs for keepsake items for the attendees. A highlight of the event was listening to music provided by gospel singer Tony Corner, who will perform at the festival on the Local Stage on First Avenue.

“This has been a wonderful program,” said Iris Bennett. “The music is super. This was wonderful for the barbecue people to do.”

Bennett has been attending the pig out party for three years. She enjoyed being among friends she considers family. Bennett’s sister, Peggy Butler, who sat across from her, called socializing with others the highlight of the day. Butler said they used to go to the festival uptown and enjoyed looking at the crafts and performers. Over the years it has been harder for her to deal with the big crowd.

“Iris brought me one day to get out of the house, now I’m hooked on it. This is our pig out party,” she said. “This is my big extended family. I have made a lot of friends.”

Mary Garbutt agreed that the party is something she doesn’t miss. She has attended each year.

“Everything is fine,” Garbutt said. “I’m happy about the barbecue. It’s all good.”

While enjoying the music senior citizens ate barbecue, slaw, potato salad and banana pudding for lunch. The barbecue was from the five participating restaurants in the 28th Annual Barbecue Festival: Barbecue Center, Jimmy’s Barbecue, Smokey Joe’s Barbecue, Stamey’s Barbecue and Speedy’s Barbecue.

“We’re so excited for the Barbecue Festival coming to us each year,” said Thessia Everhart-Roberts, director of senior services. “It’s so thoughtful of them. Of course this day wouldn’t be possible without the wonderful sponsors. Thanks to the restaurants for providing food. We are appreciative for them coming. This is something they really look forward to each year.”

Another treat was having the food passed out by Richard Childress Racing driver Ty Dillon and the No. 41 team that competes in the ARCA Racing Series.
“It’s a cool opportunity to get to do something like this,” Dillon said. “It’s fun to get together as a group and do something to give back. Everybody was excited. It’s really cool.”

Stephanie K. Saintsing Naset, executive director of the festival, was thrilled to host the event to generate excitement for the big event Saturday.

“We want to bring the barbecue festival to the senior citizens,” she said. “We recreate the atmosphere on a smaller scale. We hope they enjoy it as much as we do. We are very appreciative of the (barbecue) restaurants that provide the food and team 41 for serving — they love to come and help us be involved.”

Deneesha Edwards can be reached at 249-3981, ext 213, or [email protected].
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