Lexington Barbecue Festival

The Lexington Barbecue Festival is a one-day food festival held each October in Lexington, North Carolina, a city that calls itself the "Barbecue Capital of the World."  Each year up to 160,000 people go to the festival Up to 20 different companies compete to see who has the best barbecue.  There are many people who sell other items, too.  The festival is a celebration of slow cooked pork barbecue.

History
The first Lexington Barbecue Festival was in 1984.  It was the idea of Joe Sink, Jr., who worked for Lexington's newspaper, The Dispatch.  The city of Lexington was already famous for barbecue and the city decided it was a good idea to have a festival every year.  The first year, 30,000 people came to eat barbecue at the festival.  The festival is one of the largest in the United States now. By 1994, more than 100,000 people came each year, and they had to cook 11,000 pounds of meat.  In 2012, more than 160,000 people came to try the Lexington barbecue.


Official status
In 2007, The North Carolina government pass a law called "NC House Bill 433" and now the festival is officially the"Official Food Festival of the Piedmont Triad Region of the State of North Carolina".
Images of the festival
These are images of some of the activities at the festival.

References

Category:Festivals in the United States
Category:1984 establishments in the United States
Category:20th-century establishments in North Carolina
Category:North Carolina