Top 9 Food and Beer Festivals in North Carolina
Known for several signature dishes like shrimp and grits, she-crab soup, Lexington-style barbecue, biscuits and gravy, fried green tomatoes, and so many more, North Carolina is a culinary oasis. And that’s just the beginning of the fantastic foods the state has to offer. Get your foodie fix across the state at these top North Carolina food festivals.
Asheville Beer Week
Asheville
From local to regional brews, you’ll be able to sample a wide variety of craft beers during Asheville Beer Week in the summer. The festival goes beyond just tastings with discussions, workshops and talks on the art of beer making. If you’ve ever wondered how craft brewers develop their signature flavors, you’ll be able to find out during this weeklong event. You’ll also discover how to pair beer with certain foods and how different beers are developed and brought to the marketplace. Now, who’s thirsty?
See more: Top 10 Craft Beer Cities Around the U.S.
Barbecue Festival
Lexington
Throughout the month of October, the city of Lexington becomes barbecue central. While there are activities all month long, the most popular is the one-day Barbecue Festival. In North Carolina, Lexington happens to be known as the “Barbecue Capital of the World,” with its own traditional, vinegar-based barbecue sauce style. Area restaurants turn out their best smoked pork dishes to hungry festivalgoers. Along with live entertainment, craft booths and attractions, guests will enjoy unique activities like the pig races at the
“Hogway Speedway” and the Lumberjack Sports Show were chopping timber is both a contest and an entertaining spectacle.
Dublin Peanut Festival
Dublin
The town of Dublin embraces its title as the “Peanut Capital of the South.” Since 1992, the community has been coming together every September for the Dublin Peanut Festival. Throughout the one-day event, there are plenty of activities to keep visitors busy. But to get your taste buds excited, try a few sausage dogs, barbecue sandwiches and, of course, plenty of peanuts. In fact, there’s even a peanut-themed cooking contest and a cake sale.
Ham & Yam Festival
Smithfield
How much sweet potato pie do you think you can eat in one sitting? Find out at the Ham & Yam Festival‘s pie-eating contest in Smithfield. Fill up on country ham biscuits, ribs, sweet potato fries and more. Or you might prefer to sample some of the entries in the cook-off contest featuring recipes made with hams and yams. There are family-friendly games and entertainment, along with the “What’s That Yam Thing?” contest in which kids reimagine sweet potatoes as works of art.
See more: Yams vs. Sweet Potatoes: What’s the Difference?
NC Apple Festival
Hendersonville
Over Labor Day weekend, downtown Hendersonville becomes party central for the NC Apple Festival. Guests can find all kinds of varieties of the favorite fall fruit at the event (and all the apples come from nearby, North Carolina growers). Bite into a fresh-picked Honey Crisp, Snapdragon, Jonagold, Ambrosia or a number of other juicy apples. Besides carnival rides and a street fair, there’s also live entertainment and activities for kids. This community-wide festival has been going on since 1946.
See more: North Carolina’s Fresh Market Finds
North Carolina Blackberry Festival
Lenoir
Summertime means berry season! There’s no better place to celebrate the fruits of the harvest than at the multi-day North Carolina Blackberry Festival in Lenoir. Locals will tell you not to miss the “Evening of Everything Blackberry” on Thursday, when guests are invited to enjoy a meal highlighting blackberries while a band plays music. Of course, that’s just one of the activities the festival has to offer. Attendees can also meander through the Black“Beer”y Beer Garden, indulge in the blackberry eating contest, and watching a parade that includes The Blackberry Cobbler Brigade pulling wagons filled with cobblers.
North Carolina Potato Festival
Elizabeth City
Three words: free french fries! That’s right, the North Carolina Potato Festival offers attendees the chance to chow down on as many free French as they can eat on the Saturday of this three-day festival in May. Potatoes happen to be one of the state’s biggest crops, and this popular festival is jam-packed with fun potato-themed activities, including “spudtacular rides,” a Potato Sack Race, and the National Potato Peeling Contest. You’ll be amazed at how quickly the peelers can go through stacks of potatoes.
North Carolina Seafood Festival
Morehead City
In North Carolina, fall means seafood season. At the North Carolina Seafood Festival in October, visitors can enjoy carnival rides, a sailing regatta and so much more. Foodies should head straight to the Cooking with The Chefs tent, where award-winning chefs from across the region bring their best for judging. Throughout the festival, guests can do their own judging of favorites like shrimp, crab and more. There’s even an oyster-shucking content open to those who want to participate or just watch.
Sourwood Festival
Black Mountain
For more than 40 years, the Sourwood Festival has been drawing local crowds for a fun-filled event in August. At this two-day festival, attendees will have the opportunity to purchase plenty of Sourwood honey, a local favorite. The honey is featured in dishes served at the event, while honey-making demonstrations, live music and other special activities entertain festivalgoers. Around 200 arts and crafts vendors also attend, offering all types of local products for sale.