All about the Festival

2008 Schedule
The 2008 Festival is scheduled for Friday, June 13, 11 a.m.-11 p.m., and Saturday, June 14, 10 a.m.-11 p.m. The Festival is held each year at Harmon Field in Tryon, N.C.

Tickets
Admission is $8, with children 12 and under admitted free.

Parking
FREE – we have lots of signs to direct you to ample field parking. Three open trams run continuously between the Main Gate and parking to carry you quickly and conveniently back and forth. Spacious for all your purchases and handicap accessible, this free service is just another way for us to thank you for visiting us!

Festival Entertainment
Each year Festival Entertainment Coordinator Peter Eisenbrown produces a lineup of the best entertainment in the region. Eisenbrown takes pride in assembling an eclectic showcase of everything from blues to bluegrass, folk to funk, Americana to zydeco and lots of crowd-pleasing favorites whose style just can’t be labeled. Check out the music for this year.

Located right in the heart of the festival, the big Main Stage hosts the big acts and headliners. There’s lots of space to dance in front of the stage and when the sun goes down there’s a whole lotta shakin’ going on!

Located in an idyllic spot along the laughing Pacolet River near the head of the Foothills Crafts Fair, the Riverside Stage boasts more of a softer songwriters’ venue in an intimate setting.

Foothills Craft Fair
Bring your canvas shopping bag and prepare to be delighted by the fine items in the Foothills Crafts Fair. Dotted along the Pacolet River, many of our artisans demonstrate their skills and enjoy chatting with you about their craft. We know of one of our guests that comes back year after year to accomplish most of her holiday shopping at the Fair!

Food
All food sold is located in the infield area in front of the main stage and all food is purchased with Tabb Tickets, so look for those booths first.

If you like your food cooked slow & low, then step right up and order some of our BBQ. The folks selling you your ‘Q in the infield area are also competing for prizes and championship status in our contest, so you know you’re getting the best of the best! We only invite a small handful of our cookers— most are also professional restaurateurs and caterers—to vend to our festival-goers.

What would a food event be without delicious sweets and treats? Every year we invite many different food vendors to apply and then we cull the cream of the crop to offer you all of your favorites and maybe a few new delights, too! Thirsty? You can find exotic beers in the Biergarten and wine by the glass in our Vineyard Tent. Our BBQ vendors have tea and please check out our Non-BBQ Food Vendors for other beverages such as fresh-squeezed lemonade. The festival also sells bottled water, sodas and beer throughout the infield area; perfect for a fine summer day!

Hog Heaven!
The heart and the soul of the Blue Ridge Barbecue & Music Festival is where our competition cook teams set up their rigs to vie for prestige, cash prizes and awards in this, the North Carolina State Barbecue Championship. The top ranking team from North Carolina also wins the coveted Governor’s Trophy. Teams must compete in all four sanctioned categories; Chicken, Pork Ribs, Pork and Beef Brisket to be considered for Grand Champion.

Judging is by Kansas City Barbecue Society certified judges and we use a double blind system to ensure a fair and equal contest. Although the smell of sweet and spicy smoke will make your mouth water in anticipation, there is no food sold to the public in the competition area—only in the infield area.

Cooker Store
Many of our cook teams offer their sauces and rubs to you through our Cooker Store. Come, sample the many styles and blends of pork potions. Pick out your favorites to take home and pick up a few extras to give as gifts, too.

Beach Bingo
Come sit in the shade of our Bingo tent and play; you might be calling out “Bingo!” and take home an official Festival T-shirt or $10 in cash or Tabb Tickets.

Rides & Games
Kids of all ages will enjoy the back–to-back Kiddee and Teen Fun Parks, with age appropriate rides and amusements.

Main Street
Come browse our Main Street vendors for a diverse offering of goods and services.

Fireworks
At 10 p.m. each evening, a major fireworks extravaganza will enchant you and your loved ones. Staged by one of the oldest and most respected names in pyrotechnics today, this show is the perfect cap to a perfect summer day or a fabulous kick-off to go boogie-down at the main stage until they tell us we have to go home!

Going Green – Our Recycling Initiative
Back in 2005, we offered unmanned carts with signage to please recycle cans. Crowd response and community feedback was so great the Festival Committee decided to explore the possibilities of diverting even more waste from our local landfill. We set ourselves a goal, starting with Festival 2006 to reduce our landfill waste by 75% in three years. 2008 will be our third year and we are more than two-thirds of the way there. Read all about it here.