3rd Suds and Swine is a smokin’ success

LAURINBURG — Despite a rainy start on Friday night, the third annual Suds and Swine BBQ Festival drew crowds and cooked up success over the weekend.

More than 1,800 pounds of barbecue was cooked up throughout the event, with pitmasters preparing meat from 26 whole hogs and nearly 50 Boston butts. Attendees on Saturday enjoyed a variety of attractions in McDuffie Square — from posing with a 20-foot inflatable pig and enjoying kids’ inflatables, to getting to try some barbecue sandwiches and pints of freshly cooked pork.

“This is a huge event for our community and Rotary is proud to be a part of it,” said Laurinburg Rotary Club President David Harling. “We have a lot of Rotary volunteers out here today, but we also had help from the Blue Blazers, Oban Exchange students, and other community members who just wanted to pitch in. We’ll need even more next year.”

This year’s barbecue competitions were a highlight once again, drawing in seasoned pros, backyard grillers, and even high school students. In the North Carolina Whole Hog Barbecue Competition, Billy John Narron of Wicked Pig from Middlesex took home first place. Kevin Peterson of Showtime’s Legit BBQ from Benson, who won last year, came in second, while Kevin Wooten of Pickin & Grillin BBQ out of Raleigh rounded out the top three.

“This is my 10th year cooking and I usually do about 15 contests a year,” he said. “We primarily compete in the eastern half of North Carolina… I’ve come to Laurinburg all three years and it’s one of the best run, managed, and organized events we do all year. They do a great job looking after us cooks.”

In the backyard division, Terrell Price of Bookie’s Q from Fuquay-Varina earned top honors. Milton Freeman and the Freeman Family from Raeford placed second, followed by Bracey Stone of The Bearded Stones from right here in Laurinburg.

“This is my first competition so I am shocked,” Price said. “It’s been nerve-wracking but exciting. It was worth the drive to be here today.”

Young grillers also had their moment in the spotlight during the high school competition. Paulina Chestnut impressed the judges with her winning smash burger to claim first place, while Timothy Covington and Aryssa Trimborn took second and third, respectively.

Tourism Development Authority Director Cory Hughes was proud of how the weekend turned out despite the wet weather that pushed back the Friday night Laurinburg After 5 event an hour.

“We had some rain on Friday but we kept pushing through it,” he said. “We’re excited to be in our third year. The pro teams just love coming to Laurinburg and they talked about it all night. We’re already working on planning for next year and looking for any improvements we can make.”

Downtown Laurinburg was also bustling with activity with the Spring Arts Festival, which featured around 30 vendors offering everything from desserts and drinks to handmade crafts and artwork.

“We had a smaller amount of artists this year,” said Arts Council Director Olivia Fitzgerald. “We had some come as far away as Kenansville but many are local. I think overall it’s been a successful day.”

Organizers thanked the sponsors which included Smithfield Foods, Southern Cuts, Gibson Oil, Becca Hughes and Bette Sellers from Edward Jones, Scotia Village, Jordan Aylward from State Farm, Scotland Healthcare, and Cypress Creek Renewables.

“This has been a great community event,” Harling said. “You’ve got the Rotary Club out here, the Arts Council with the arts festival downtown, and the Chamber putting on Laurinburg After 5. It’s a great show of different community organizations coming together.”