Weekend Picks: October 28th – 30th

NC Barbecue Revival
Photo courtesy Eric Waters Photography

It’s hard to believe we are entering the last weekend of October. Below are my top picks for fun things to check out on what is sure to be a beautiful fall weekend. This weekend’s featured events include the NC Barbecue Revival, a Parade to the Polls, and the Halloween Weekend Durham Food Truck Rodeo. Happy Exploring!

Saturday
NC Barbecue Revival
There is still time to attend the NC Barbecue Revival at Green Button Farm this weekend. The event will feature the folks behind Durham’s own PICNIC and visiting pitmasters & chefs and runs Oct 28-30th. This three-day weekend celebrates & honors NC’s most iconic food – wood-smoked, whole hog barbecue.

The following Saturday classes , lunch and dinner events still have a few openings. Visit http://www.ncbbqrevival.com for ticket price information and to reserve your spot today!

A Gracious Plenty- Pie Class
No pig pickin’ is complete without a pie, or two. Join celebrated pastry Chef Phoebe Lawless of Scratch Baking to learn the tricks to baking swoon-worthy Southern pies in Ryan and Alicia’s beautiful home kitchen overlooking Green Button Farm. Be prepared to roll up your sleeves and dig your spoon into sweet and savory pies in this demonstration class. Counter Culture Coffee will be keep you caffeinated while you indulge. 10:00 – 11:30

Go Whole Hog – Hog Butchery Class
Join Hog Farmer Ryan Butler & Chef Steve Goff for a lesson in hog butchery. Step into Green Button Farm’s barn for a lesson in head-to-tail butchery. While Chef Steve Goff of Brine Haus breaks down a 200-pound heritage breed hog, Ryan Butler will regale us with tales from the farm and insights into farming sustainably. Ham Biscuits & Counter Culture Coffee will tide you over ‘till lunchtime. 10:00-11:30

Southern Sides served w/ “Buxton Hall BBQ’s Book of Smoke”
Chef Ben Adams and “Barbecue Man” Wyatt Dickson of PICNIC welcome Buxton Hall’s Elliott Moss for a vegetable-focused lunch celebrating southern sides & Moss’s brand new cookbook. Named the 2^nd “Best New Restaurant” by Bon Appetit in 2016, and one of the top eight BBQ restaurants in the Carolinas by Time Magazine, enjoy talking with this James Beard award nominee for “Best Chef: Southeast.” This lunch will be served family style with wines by Wine Authorities. 12:00 – 1:30

“In the Trenches” with Wyatt Dickson & Friends
You’ll find PICNIC’s “Barbecue Man” Wyatt Dickson and visiting pitmasters in the South Pasture as they trade tall tales and prepare the hogs for Sunday’s pig pickin’. Ponysaurus and Fullsteam will be there to keep your whistles wet.
2:00 – 3:30

Know your ‘cue!
BBQ expert Robert Moss, author of “Barbecue: History of An American Institution,” sheds light on the facts and myths surrounding the time-honored tradition of a pig pickin’. Guests will gather in the main barn and sip cocktails from Moss’s newest book, “Southern Spirits.” 2:00-3:30

Bourbon Mash Bill Tasting with The Crunkleton
Gary Crunkleton, owner and bartender of The Crunkleton in Chapel Hill, noted by Garden & Gun as one of the 50 “Best Bars in the South” and by Southern Living as one of the “Best 100 Bars in the South,” will lead the charge in bourbon appreciation, education and tasting. Starting with wheated bourbons, then moving to traditional bourbons and finishing with high rye mash bills, you will have more than enough bourbon to satiate your palate. Guests will leave with a better understanding for how and why bourbon tastes the way it does. 4:00-5:00

Flask & Jug
Put on your boots for a conversation and farm walk across acres of verdant pasture land with Green Button Farm’s Ryan Butler and the Triangle Land Conservancy. We’ll fill your flask and give you an earful about what it means to own and operate a sustainable family farm and how local land conservancies protect our agricultural heritage in perpetuity. 4:00-5:00, Free (but reservations are still required)

Oyster Roast & Progressive Farm Dinner with Pitmasters
As tradition has it, the oyster roast begins once the pigs are smoking! Guests begin at Green Button Farm’s pond with Locals Seafood and Saltbox Seafood for shucked oysters, Brunswick Stew and more, before heading up the pasture to a feast in the tent featuring Arrogant Swine’s Tyson Ho, Lewis Barbecue’s John Lewis, Savannah’s Bryan Furman of B’s Cracklin and many more. Once you reach the barn, you’ll discover bluegrass and s’mores by the fire.
5:30-10:00; $85/person

Sunday
Parade the Vote
Early voting is underway in NC! Meet Sunday at noon at NCSU’s Belltower for an energetic and colorful parade to the poll to celebrate your fundamental right, privilege, and responsibility as an American to vote! With so much to look forward to, the community is encouraged to parade together to vote . Parade will end at the Wake County Board of Elections at 1 PM right when the door opens to vote! If you voted already you are encouraged to join the parade anyway!

Durham Food Truck Rodeo
The Halloween Weekend Food Truck Rodeo in Durham Central Park will have 50+ local food trucks, local craft beer, local artists and live music.  The Swang Brothers play their first of three sets at 12:30 p.m. Event runs from 12-4pm. You can view a list of the trucks here.