Goldsboro, a City with a Celebrated Barbecue Heritage

Goldsboro, NC, is very proud of its barbecue heritage. It claims to be the home of “the best BBQ,” and its online visitor information brags about its prominence on the N.C. Historic Barbecue Trail. As a result, I’ve wanted to judge here since I was first certified.

Cooking teams set up in the grassy area near Cornerstone Commons in downtown Goldsboro.

However, as the county seat of Wayne County, Goldsboro is more important to me than for barbecue reasons because it’s also the home of my maternal ancestors. I’ve visited the county before to explore the rural areas north of the city where they lived. For this visit, nothing but barbecue was on my mind, and I enjoyed being a judge at the Beak Week Festival.

The stages for music during Beak Week includes several innovative approaches.

Although the festival was begun in 2014 to celebrate the county’s poultry industry, more than chicken is evaluated during the barbecue contest. Ribs, pork, and brisket are also cookoff categories to comply with the requirements of the Kansas City Barbeque Society, which sanctions the event.

Food and crafts vendors along Center Street are ready for the crowd on early Saturday morning.

Poultry is clearly important to the county, and a wing-eating contest, a bird-themed costume fun run, a “fowl play” softball game, and a week-long scavenger hunt for chicken and turkey cutouts in the downtown area add to the festival’s emphasis on poultry. However, the $20,000 in prize money is the main attraction for about 40 cooking teams to compete in the barbecue cookoff.

Judges meet in the gym of the Goldsboro Police Department.

Goldsboro’s reputation for hosting a superb barbecue contest grows each year. Even though the cookoff is part of a poultry festival, the crowd of more than 10,000 knows that barbecue encompasses much more than poultry, although in Wayne County, it’s an indispensable part.

Several photo opportunities are available during Beak Week, which celebrates the local poultry industry.