The Lexington Barbecue Festival in Lexington, North Carolina

Lexington, North Carolina is a city just shy of 20,000 residents and home over 20 barbecue restaurants. Lexington sits in the central Piedmont region of North Carolina an hour's drive north of Charlotte. Once a year in late October this quiet city swells to 5 times its size as it welcomes over 100,000 hungry guests all of them in search of one thing; great tasting Barbecue. Lexington is the barbecue capital of the world (albeit self proclaimed) and certainly cooks up an excellent argument to that claim.

Lexington Barbecue is distinctive and each of the town's restaurants cooks it in a similar style. Lexington barbecue is largely composed of slow cooked hickory smoked pork shoulder. The sauce is ketchup and vinegar based with the addition of various added spices. Each restaurant has its own closely guarded secret recipe. The sides of choice are hushpuppies (deep fried corn mill biscuits) and red barbecue coleslaw.

In an effort to boost tourism the first Lexington Barbecue Festival occurred in 1984 when it was organized and sponsored by the local bank and newspaper. The first festival welcomed 30,000 guests which gobbled up over 3,000 pounds of barbecue. These days the festival has grown to become one of North Carolina's largest forcing the local restaurants to produce a whopping 11,000 pounds of the other white meat just to keep up! The fire pits are manned day and night as the festival approaches. This fills the city air with a sweet nearly palatable barbecue fragrance.

It's not all about the barbecue, there is plenty to see and do. While the festival has grown, the small town atmosphere is still in full force. The festival encompasses a full 8 city blocks of dogwood lined Main Street reminiscent of Mayberry itself. Drink in the festival like atmosphere while browsing vendor after vendor of regionally made arts and crafts. Enjoy the sounds of performers the likes Trisha Yearwood, and The Chairmen of the board as they entertain the guests for free along the street. Browse row after row of classic cars or just have a seat and people watch while enjoying a cold brew in the beer garden.

If you've got the kids with you there is also a great children's area with a hometown carnival-like atmosphere. Enjoy magic shows and collect pig inspired balloon animals from the clowns. Exhibits in the past have included guests from the ACC basketball conference, nickelodeon characters, as well as racing pigs!

It's a great chance to experience a beautiful little city and experience true southern hospitality. The only downside - you might lose a few buttons after you eat your body weight in barbecue!