Carlton Hurt, who worked as a sportswriter here from February 1998 to November 2005, stopped by for a visit Monday. A group of us went to lunch with him - to a barbecue restaurant, naturally.
It seemed a fitting choice in the week leading up to the Barbecue Festival, and county natives (Carlton graduated from West Davidson) often make a beeline for their favorite barbecue joint when visiting. We used to joke with Carlton that whenever we went to lunch, he would always see several people he knew. Although he's been gone for almost four years, Monday was no exception.
That's one of the great things about eating at one of Lexington's barbecue restaurants. Chances are good you'll run into someone you know. I just don't think that happens as much at chain restaurants.
Another thing that has always struck me about the barbecue restaurants is the longevity of many of the employees. Some of the waitresses who were working when I came to Lexington 20 years ago are still there. Food services is often considered an industry with high employee turnover, and that's probably more true for fast food. But continuity and stability are the name of the game at the barbecue restaurants.
We do love our barbecue and spread the word about it to others. When family and friends come see us, usually we'll head to a barbecue restaurant, like we did with Carlton. When my in-laws visit from the Charlotte area, often they'll stop on the return trip and pick up some barbecue to eat later at their home.
Some people avoid the barbecue slaw (even Carlton left it on his plate), and others may quibble about the hush puppies. But few people turn their nose up when it comes to the barbecue itself, whether they try it chopped, coarse chopped or sliced (or another exotic version, often known primarily to locals, like white lean chopped).
We sometimes joke at The Dispatch that it's an offense punishable by dismissal to misspell barbecue. The word appears numerous ways - barbecue, barbeque, bar-b-q, BBQ, etc. - but for Lexington-style the preferred spelling uses a c. I did notice that the sand sculpture for this year's festival uses "Boo-B-Q" for its Halloween theme, so maybe I need to move beyond my 'cue hang-up.
Lexington residents know that October is Festival Month, but did you know that Gov. Bev Perdue proclaimed this Pork Month? Perdue's proclamation, which the N.C. Pork Council proudly publicized, offered these interesting facts: the pork industry contributes more than $9 billion to the state economy, employs 46,000 people full time and sent 18 million pigs worth almost $2 billion to market in 2007. I wonder how many of those 18 million pigs were consumed by diners in Lexington restaurants?
Like many people, I'm keeping a close eye on the weather forecast and radar as I write this Friday. I thought Stephanie K. Saintsing, the festival's executive director, offered a good perspective on the weather in our preview story published Friday. "We just have to move forward despite the weather."
That's certainly my plan for Saturday. My sons' soccer schedules make visiting the festival somewhat tricky, but we have a strategy to spend a couple of hours uptown and still fulfill their sports obligations. If we have to wear ponchos and use umbrellas, so be it. We'll still have a good time.
My 10-year-old, in fact, ranks the day of the Barbecue Festival in his top three for the year, alongside Christmas and his birthday. That's a pretty high compliment. He already has plans for a light breakfast so he can enjoy lunch from one of the vendors (alas, he's not a barbecue fan yet).
I hope you will venture downtown and spend a couple of hours taking in all the sights, sounds, tastes and smells of the Barbecue Festival. For 26 years now the festival has drawn tens of thousands of people to our city for one day to celebrate barbecue. Few small cities can boast of such a vibrant event, so Lexington residents can walk tall and feel pride on this special day.
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