Lexington Barbecue Festival

[4] The idea for an annual festival was first brought up in 1983 by Joe Sink, Jr., publisher of Lexington's daily newspaper, The Dispatch.

[2] He approached the bank BB&T, which agreed to look into the idea and hired Kay Saintsing, a local organization developer and manager, to conduct a study of the feasibility of such a festival.

Over the years, sponsors have included Childress Vineyards, Pepsi,[5] BB&T, Walmart, and other large and local corporations.

While the primary focus is still the barbecue, a large number of merchants sell other items that are unique to the area.

Neither garnered enough support to pass, as nearly half of the state favors the eastern style barbecue, sparking genuine controversy about the bill incidentally creating an "official state barbecue" (as opposed to just the festival) with either Lexington or eastern style.

claimed that Dennis Rogers, (columnist for The Raleigh News & Observer and self-professed "oracle of the holy grub.")