If you love food and you’re free this Labor Day Weekend, head over to the Pinehurst Barbecue Festival, three days filled with meat, sides, and barbecue classes taking place on August 30 to September 1, 2024. Get all the details and the full schedule here.
For more to do in the area, check out all our posts about Pinehurst, North Carolina.
If you visit the south, there is a very good chance that you plan to eat some barbecue during your trip. It’s a must do. Especially if you’re in North Carolina.
See, North Carolina is split into two very distinct barbecue camps. There’s Eastern and Western. Eastern has a vinegar based sauce and the barbecue is a little spicier than Western (aka Lexington), which uses a ketchup based sauce (similar to the traditional barbecue sauce that most of the rest of the country is used to).
If you’re visiting North Carolina, you’ll want to sample both. And if you’re visiting during Labor Day Weekend, you’re gonna wanna head over to Pinehurst for some barbecue.
Now, sure, the North Carolina town is known for being a golf haven and is on rotation to host the US Open (it was the site of the Open this past June). But, Labor Day Weekend, it is known for hosting a three-day festival featuring some of the best barbecue you’ll find in the area.
This year, the fourth annual Pinehurst Barbecue Festival will be held on August 30 to September 1 and we’ve got all the details for you below.
Most of the events for the Pinehurst Barbecue Festival happen at night. But you still need to eat during the day. We highly recommend filling up on a late breakfast/brunch at the Carolina Dining Room At Pinehurst Resort, colloquially known as “The Best Breakfast In Golf”. Spoiler alert: The breakfast is amazing.
Pinehurst Barbecue Festival: Everything you need to know
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The Pinehurst Barbecue Festival is a three-day event held in various locations around the iconic Village of Pinehurst. The main event — the Christopher Prieto Pitmaster Invitational — happens on Sunday. That’s when seven pitmasters, six handpicked by Christopher Prieto, plus Prieto himself, will be cooking and serving a range of meats and traditional sides to festival goers. There will also be various vendor tents set up along the streets of downtown Pinehurst, live music, and more.
Quick note: You need to bring your own chairs to the live music. It’s on grass and chairs aren’t provided. We love packing captains chairs and a collapsible table for these events.
The event is free to enter, but, unlike other barbecue festivals, you need to buy a ticket in order to taste the food. You can’t purchase anything a la carte or a full plate from a single vendor.
The other events that are part of the festival are ticketed events only. There’s the High On The Hog Gourmet Pitmaster Dinner, a seated barbecue dinner with whiskey and wine samples; Barbecue Reimagined, which is a similar event to the Christopher Prieto Pitmaster Invitational in that you purchase tickets and get to try small plates from various pitmasters; Bourbon & Bites, a barbecue dinner paired with whiskey and bourbon sampling; and the ”Q”-School Grilling Class, a way for pitmasters to learn about grilling directly from Christopher Prieto himself and another yet-to-be-announced pitmaster.
Pinehurst Barbecue Festival: Frequently Asked Questions
The festival is Labor Day Weekend. This year, that’s August 30 to September 1, 2024.
The festival takes place in various locations around Pinehurst. The main draw of the festival, the Christopher Prieto Pitmaster Invitational (which is essentially a street fair with barbecue pitmasters), is scattered around downtown Pinehurst. There’s live music that has previously been held at the corner of McCaskill & Magnolia Roads.
There will be a bunch of award-winning pitmasters at the festival and they vary depending on the event. What I do really appreciate is that every featured pitmaster is from North Carolina. It’s such a great way to feature North Carolina Barbecue.
Barbecue Reimagined will feature Ade Carrena from Raleigh; Luke Owens from Greenville; Oscar Johnson, Chavil Johnson, and Sekani Akunyun from Charlotte; Gerald Hawkins from Topsail Beach; Tie Whittaker from Clayton; Savanna Broadar from Pinehurst; David Bowen from Winston-Salem; and Chris Currier who is the food and beverage director at Sandhills Community College.
The Christopher Prieto Pitmaster Invitational will feature Christopher Prieto of Prime Barbecue in Knightdale; Ron Simmons from Kenansville; Jake Wood from Durham; Keith Jenning from Asheboro and Jamestown; Benji Ayala from Pinehurst Brewing Co.; Adam Hughes from Edenton; and Lewis Donald from Charlotte.
Every event is ticketed, including (but sort of excluding) the Christopher Prieto Pitmaster Invitational. The street fair and live music portions are free for everyone, but you need a ticket in order to sample the barbecue vendors.
You can purchase discounted tickets for the Christopher Prieto Pitmaster Invitational through Groupon. Discounted tickets for the other events are not available.
Christopher Prieto, from Wendell, North Carolina, is a known online as Barbecue Nerd. He is a barbecue pitmaster who has been on various cooking shows, like Food Network’s Chopped and TLC’s BBQ Pitmasters. He owns Prime BBQ in Knightdale, NC and Primo Latin Cuisine, which is Latin Cuisine and Barbecue Fusion, located behind Prime BBQ that was opened in 2024.
He’s known for his Ultimate School of Barbecue Classes. His next one is in November 2024 and is $349 for a full day of education and a t-shirt. The price makes the $109 ticket for the ”Q”-School Grilling Class at the Pinehurst Barbecue Festival feel like a deal.
Full Pinehurst Barbecue Festival 2024 Schedule
Wednesday, August 28
Wine & BBQ Tasting: Five hand-picked wine tastings paired with four delicious barbecue meats from Embers BBQ at Standing Room Only (a wine bar) in Southern Pines. Tickets are just $19 per person.
* This isn’t an official Pinehurst Barbecue Festival event, but it’s a barbecue event in the area, so we included it.
Friday, August 30
High On The Hog Gourmet Pitmaster Dinner: A dinner hosted at the Pinehurst Fair Barn, with whiskey and wine samples, live music, barbecue themed vendors, and a cash bar from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm. Tickets are $85 a person.
Saturday, August 31
Barbecue Reimagined: Ten pitmasters will be offering tasting menus at Sandhills Community College from 6 pm to 8 pm. Each ticket includes a protein and a side from each of the 10 pitmasters. Barbecue sauce and rub samples, craft beer, wine, and vendors will also be at the event. Tickets are $75.
Bourbon & Bites: Five bourbon samples will be paired with barbecue offerings from The Pinehurst Resort’s culinary team at The Manor’s North & South Whiskey Bar from 5 pm to 7 pm. Attendees will also receive a cigar. Tickets are $125 (and are sold out for 2024).
”Q”-School Grilling Class: Ticket holders will experience cooking and grilling demonstrations at Pinehurst Brewing Company from 11 am to 1 pm. Beer samples will also be available. Tickets are $109 per person.
Sunday, September 1
Christopher Prieto Pitmaster Invitational: Ticket holders will be able to sample barbecue from seven pitmasters at the Village of Pinehurst from noon to 5 pm. Each ticket includes a protein and side from each pitmaster. Barbecue sauce and rub samples, craft beer, wine, and vendors will also be at the event. Tickets are $45 for military members, $65 for regular admission, and $75 for early admission (11 am).
There is a Carolina Co-Packing “Pig Out” Ticket option for $135, which allows you a second helping from your favorite of the seven pitmasters, plus two samples from each of the other vendors. It also allows you VIP access to The Villager Deli in downtown Pinehurst and a festival swag bag.
You can enter the event without a ticket, however, you need a ticket for samples and samples will not be sold a la carte.
More Barbecue Festivals In The South:
This isn’t the only barbecue festival that should be on your calendar. Add the South Carolina Festival Of Discovery. It’s a barbecue and blues festival in Greenwood, SC.
There are a ton of vendors selling barbecue filling parking lots in Uptown Greenwood, plus a people’s choice tasting competition where festival goers can vote for the festival’s best barbecue competitor.
Also, not barbecue-specific, but nearby Canton, NC hosts the N.C. Peach Festival and restaurants in Pinehurst and the surrounding area participate in Peach Week events. That’s always the third Saturday in June, so mark your calendars.
Have you been to the Pinehurst Barbecue Festival? Be sure to let us know how it was in the comments.