Celebrating Agriculture in Burlington with a Cookoff

Homegrown in the Park is an annual celebration of agriculture in Alamance County of North Carolina. A combined celebration and “agricultural experience,” it showcases the past, present, and future of agriculture in the county and is held in City Park in downtown Burlington by Alamance County Farm Bureau.

Cooking teams set up behind the YMCA  building.

The event includes antique tractors and other farm equipment, exhibits, demonstrations, live music, and other entertainment. The Farm Bureau once had organized tours of area farm. Because it decided that a farm day in the downtown area would attract a larger audience, it changed the format to bring “the farm to the city.”

Trophies are ready for the winners.

Although some people also come for the free ice cream that they receive after visiting the exhibits, more people probably attend for the free barbecue sandwiches that is also provided. The barbecue is prepared by pitmasters who compete in a whole hog cookoff that is part of the Whole Hog Barbecue Series sponsored by the N.C. Pork Council.

Judging gets underway at 8 a.m. Photo by Alamance County Farm Bureau.

All the preparations and cooking occur during the night to be ready for the judging that begins at 8 a.m. This year 12 pitmasters competed for the top prizes, and judging was finished around 9 a.m. However, because the public doesn’t start showing up until 10 a.m., the only part of the whole hog cook that they see (and taste) are the sandwiches. The activities of the event continue until 4 p.m.

After being judged, each pitmaster chops barbecue for the sandwiches.

The top three finishers qualify to advance and compete in the state cookoff in September to determine the Whole Hog Barbecue Champion among all contest winners this year. Chris Fineran, who already placed first in an event in the series earlier this year, won top honors at Homegrown in the Park. 

The line forms early for free barbecue sandwiches. Photo by Alamance County Farm Bureau.

Burlington is the place to be each April to celebrate farm history, experience agriculture in a park setting, and enjoy barbecue sandwiches (with ice cream). However, without farmers and pitmasters, this event couldn’t celebrate as magnificently as it does.

After all judging activities have been completed, it's time for a picture.

Starting Another Year of Whole Hog Barbecue Contests in Goldsboro

Pig in the Park is one of the early events in the Whole Hog Barbecue Series sponsored by the N.C. Pork Council. The series leads to the selection of the Pitmaster of the Year as well as concludes at the state cookoff for contest winners to determine the Whole Hog Barbecue Champion at the end of each year.

Judging started at 8 o'clock. Photo by Goldsboro Daily News.

One of Goldsboro’s largest festivals, Pig in the Park is the biggest fundraiser for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Wayne County. The clubs serve more than 660 children with programs to achieve academic and leadership goals. In addition to the barbecue contest, the event includes a special “Kiss the Pig” contest (which itself raised more than $6,000), a kids’ zone, live entertainment, and vendors. Barbecue cooked by the competing pitmasters is also sold to the public, and, for the first time in the ten years of the event, all the barbecue was sold this year. The 4,000 festival-goers who attended could probably have eaten more.

Musical groups add to the festivities at Pig in the Park.

I enjoyed being a judge at the cookoff because it was held at picturesque Old Waynesborough Park where the former town of Waynesborough was located. It served as the initial county seat from 1787 until 1847, when the seat of government was moved to nearby Goldsboro that was growing as railroads expanded into the area. At the park are nine historic buildings such as a school, lawyer’s office, and Quaker Meeting House that were brought from other locations in Wayne County to replicate a village setting during the era that Waynesborough was thriving.

Old Waynesborough Park preserves the area where the former town of Waynesborough was located.

The park includes more than 150 acres along the Neuse and Little rivers and is a popular spot for canoeing, fishing, hiking, birding, and special events such as weddings. More than 150 species of birds have been identified at the park, which is a site on the North Carolina Birding Trail.

Pigs for the contest were provided by Goldsboro Milling Compay.

Trophies are ready for the award ceremony.

The pigs for the contest were provided by Goldsboro Milling Company, a festival sponsor that was founded in 1916 as a feed milling business and expanded over the decades into turkey, swine, and blueberry operations. The top three pitmasters, who qualify to advance and compete in the state championship in Raleigh this fall, were Richie Fulghum, first place; D.J. Stox, second; and Lewis McDonald, third. In addition to trophies, first place received $500; second place, $300; and third place, $200. A People’s Choice award, a new feature this year, and a cash prize of $150 were won by Big Belly’s Cooking Team, led by Robert Radford.

In April each year the park is known for the excellent barbecue prepared by some of the state’s top pitmasters. Pig in the Park is even more important for how it supports the children of Wayne County.

The gift to each judge was a contest cleaver.