North Carolina Families Honored To Be First To Enter BBQ Hall Of Fame
Last Friday (3/1) saw a ceremony in Burlington that HAD to have the best catering in the history of such events. The North Carolina BBQ Hall of Fame inducted its inaugural class. Among the inductees were Sam Jones BBQ and Skylight Inn BBQ. The common denominator of these two North Carolina BBQ legends, the family that started both. Sam Jones, his father Bruce Jones and Uncle Jeff Jones were all present and accounted for.
Sam Jones is quoted by News 12, “It’s important to honor the old guard of this tradition. I’ve been blessed to have been able to travel all over this country as somewhat of an ambassador of North Carolina barbecue, which previously was looked down upon in the culinary community. It was not until Southern cuisine was elevated to fine dining that barbecue rose to being recognized as something special. The old guard had been working hard all these years with almost no recognition. I wish the people who came before me, like my grandfather Pete and his uncle, the man who taught him to cook barbecue, could have accepted this award instead of me.”
I’m sure these sentiments were shared by other inductees on Friday of the North Carolina BBQ Hall of Fame’s first class. Other inductees included: Kent Bridges of Alston Bridges Barbecue in Shelby; Steve and Gerri Grady of Grady’s BBQ in Dudley; Charles Hursey of Hursey’s Bar-B-Q in Burlington, Mebane and Graham; Wayne Monk of Lexington Barbecue in Lexington; and Charles Stamey of Stamey’s Barbecue in Greensboro. All of these families have been in the BBQ business for almost a century.
I’m the first to admit, I’m a BBQ snob. Further, as a native Texan, I consider myself an expert on GREAT BBQ. I’ve been fortunate enough to live all over the south. From Florida to Georgia to Alabama to the Carolinas, EVERYONE-EVERYWHERE considers themselves to have the best BBQ. Most…do not. That being said, I’ve had food from just about every one of the initial inductees to the North Carolina BBQ Hall of Fame. Their fares are not just great, they are phenomenal.
Friday’s first induction ceremony for the North Carolina BBQ Hall of Fame in Burlington featured a concert by The Oak Ridge Boys and proceeds from the event raised thousands of dollars for Alamance County veterans.
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