City: Raleigh, NC

Category: Annual Events & Festivals

Telephone: (919) 732-8156

Description: If the aroma of three dozen pigs sizzling on giant gas grills makes your mouth water, you’ll want to be in Hillsborough the third weekend in June. The town’s festival pays homage to the state’s most prolific mammal and the only meat North Carolinians call barbecue—pork. Don’t waste your time looking for beef brisket or ribs. About three dozen cooking teams fire up their grills on Friday night and roast whole pigs, hoping their ’cue will win over a slate of local celebrity judges. Festival attendees can purchase what the judges don’t eat in the form of sandwiches or take-home pints. While you’re waiting for the pig to cook, browse the arts and crafts, check out a car show featuring hot rods and vintage autos, and listen to musical entertainment. Country, alt-country, pop, and beach music, that uniquely Carolinian form of blue-eyed R&B, tend to dominate. Admission is $5. Children 12 and younger are admitted free. Park in the Eno River Public Parking Deck near Weaver Street Market for $3 all day or take a shuttle from an outlying stop into downtown.