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| If you know one of the competition cooks, she might give you a tray of extras to take home. |
Ayden has to be the most barbecue-centric town in North Carolina, which is easily the most-barbecue-centric state. The community’s barbecue heritage is celebrated every year, except when the coronavirus pandemic has canceled activities.
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Businesses celebrate the town's barbecue heritage, such as Oakley Auto Body that has this pig display at its entrance.
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Barbecue Heritage of Ayden
The annual BBQ competition is named “Kings of Q” in honor of the two legendary barbecue kings and their family-run barbecue establishments: Skylight Inn and Bum’s Restaurant. In the event this year, 32 teams competed, and scores of the top ones were separated by very small margins.
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Teams set up in several locations throughout the town.
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The weather was perfect; actually, it was sunny and hot, but having no rain makes for a good contest. Because little sun was on display the
last time that I was a judge in Ayden, I appreciated the sunny skies.
Barbecue Judging in Ayden
When Stephen Tripp, the mayor of Ayden, welcomed the judges to the event, he mentioned that barbecue is the new focus of the town’s marketing campaign. It has also adopted a new motto: Que Marks the Spot. It’s more than fitting for a town that has such a barbecue history and tradition.
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| The mayor welcomes judges to Ayden and explains the new marketing campaign. |
At each contest, judges have duties other than specifically judging meat turned in by the cooking teams. For Kings of Q, I was assigned to the “turn in” table with two other judges. The teams have a 10-minute window to turn in each meat at a designated time. After an entry is turned in, it is renumbered before being taken to a table to be judged. This procedure is known as “blind judging” because the judges cannot identify any cooking team.
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| The town's new motto is featured on several items. |
The contest, sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbeque Society, is easily one of my favorites, and I’m glad that I was able to judge at the inaugural event. The event this year was promoted as the seventh annual (although the contest for years five and six were canceled).
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| The town provides amazing support for the contest, including blocking streets in the center of Ayden. |
Future BBQ Contests in Ayden
Let’s hope that the weather continues to be favorable in May in future years when the contest is scheduled. It’s very important to the local community that we recognize and honor its barbecue heritage, and Ayden is a very welcoming town for anyone who appreciates great barbecue.
