Three Days. Seven Pitmasters. A Whole Lot of Barbecue.
If barbecue is enough of a reason for you to plan an entire weekend away, go ahead and put Pinehurst on the calendar for Labor Day Weekend.
The Pinehurst Barbecue Festival returns September 4–6, bringing seven of North Carolina’s accomplished pitmasters together for three days of barbecue, bourbon, grilling, and plenty of Southern sides in the Village of Pinehurst.
Presented by US Foods, Pinehurst Resort, Visit Pinehurst, Southern Pines, Aberdeen, Lin Hutaff’s Pinehurst Realty Group, and Our State magazine, the weekend goes well beyond simply lining up for a plate of barbecue. You can sit down for a pitmaster dinner on Friday night, learn a few tricks for your own grill on Saturday, spend the evening tasting bourbon, and finish everything off Sunday with the festival’s signature Pitmaster Invitational.
You can certainly come for one event, but we’d make a weekend out of this one. Each day offers something completely different, and there are few better places to spend a long September weekend than Pinehurst. Here’s how we’d do it.
Friday, September 4: High On The Hog Gourmet Pitmaster Dinner
Pinehurst Fair Barn | 6:00pm–8:30pm
The weekend starts with High On The Hog, a gourmet pitmaster dinner hosted by Matthew Register of Southern Smoke BBQ and Lewis Donald of Sweet Lew’s BBQ. If you want to experience what talented pitmasters can do when they have a little more room to play than a traditional barbecue plate allows, this is the night we’d prioritize.
The dinner brings together gourmet barbecue, cocktails, and a more intimate atmosphere inside the historic Pinehurst Fair Barn. It’s a chance to slow things down, enjoy the food course by course, and spend an evening appreciating the craft behind some of the barbecue you’ll be eating throughout the weekend.
We also love starting here because the Fair Barn is such a quintessential Pinehurst setting. Rather than jumping straight into a huge festival crowd, Friday night gives you a more relaxed introduction to the weekend and a chance to settle into town.
Our recommendation is to arrive in Pinehurst early enough to check into your hotel and spend some time walking around the Village before dinner. Grab a drink, browse the shops, then head over to the Fair Barn hungry.
Saturday, September 5: “Q” School Grilling Class
Moore County Airport | 11:00am–1:00pm
Saturday starts with something a little more hands-on at “Q” School, where pitmaster Ron Simmons leads a crash course in all things grilling at the Moore County Airport.
This is the event for anyone who loves barbecue enough to want to get better at making it themselves. Instead of simply tasting what the professionals can do, you’ll get a closer look at the techniques, preparation, and know-how that go into getting great results off the grill.
We’d make this your Saturday morning activity, especially if you’re already the person everyone expects to handle the grill at home. Come ready to learn a few things, ask questions, and hopefully leave with some new tricks to try the next time you fire yours up.
The airport setting also makes this one of the more unusual events of the weekend. Barbecue school at an airport is not exactly your typical Saturday morning in Pinehurst, and that is part of the fun.
Saturday, September 5: Bourbon & Bites
Carolina Hall, Carolina Hotel | 5:00pm–7:00pm
After a few hours to explore Pinehurst Saturday afternoon, head to the historic Carolina Hotel for Bourbon & Bites. This event pairs tastings of whiskey and bourbon with appetizers in Carolina Hall, giving the weekend a completely different flavor before Sunday’s big barbecue finale.
If you enjoy bourbon, this is an easy addition to the weekend. You can taste your way through different pours, learn a little more about what’s in the glass, and see how the selections work alongside thoughtfully paired bites.
The Carolina Hotel is also a pretty hard setting to beat for an evening drink. There is something about having bourbon inside one of Pinehurst’s most recognizable landmarks that feels particularly appropriate.
We’d leave a little room in the schedule afterward rather than immediately calling it a night. Take a walk through the Village, find somewhere for a late dinner or another drink, and enjoy being in Pinehurst on a holiday weekend.
The Main Event: Sunday, September 6 Pitmaster Invitational
Village of Pinehurst
Early Admission: 11:00am | General Admission: Noon | Event Ends: 4:00pm. Early admission requires an Early Entry ticket.
The Pitmaster Invitational brings seven accomplished pitmasters from across North Carolina together in the Village of Pinehurst for an afternoon devoted to barbecue. You’ll have the chance to sample different meats, styles, techniques, and traditional Southern sides while walking through one of the prettiest village settings in the state.
This is the event to arrive hungry for. Rather than committing to one plate from one pitmaster, the fun is in working your way around, tasting what everyone has brought, and finding out which style you keep thinking about when you go back for another bite.
If you’re serious about getting the most out of the day, we’d consider the Early Entry ticket. Getting in at 11:00am gives you an extra hour before general admission begins at noon, which means more time to explore, taste, and enjoy the festival before things really get moving.
And don’t rush it. The Invitational runs until 4:00pm, so give yourself the afternoon to eat, wander through the Village, talk barbecue, and enjoy the fact that somebody else has been tending the smoker all day.
Make It a Weekend in Pinehurst
We wouldn’t come all this way just to eat barbecue and leave.
Labor Day Weekend is a great time to experience Pinehurst, Southern Pines, Aberdeen, and the surrounding Sandhills, and the festival schedule leaves plenty of room between events to explore. Stay for a couple of nights and suddenly a barbecue festival becomes a pretty great long weekend.
Walk the Village of Pinehurst
Give yourself time to explore the Village when you aren’t holding a barbecue plate. The walkable streets, historic buildings, locally owned shops, restaurants, and shaded corners are a big part of what makes Pinehurst feel different from a typical resort destination.
Sunday’s Pitmaster Invitational puts you right in the middle of it, but we’d visit before then too. A slow Saturday afternoon in the Village between “Q” School and Bourbon & Bites fits this weekend perfectly.
Play a Round
You’re in the Home of American Golf, so if you can fit a round into the weekend, we would. The Sandhills has an incredible concentration of courses, and you don’t necessarily have to play one of the famous ones to have a memorable day.
An early Saturday tee time can work before the afternoon and evening festivities, or stay through Monday and finish the long weekend on the course. Just remember you also have a considerable amount of barbecue to eat, so plan accordingly.
Explore Downtown Southern Pines
If you want to get outside the Village for a few hours, make the short drive to downtown Southern Pines. Broad Street and the surrounding blocks are filled with independent shops, restaurants, coffee shops, breweries, bars, and enough places to explore that you can easily turn a quick visit into an afternoon.
We particularly like Southern Pines for dinner or drinks when you’re staying multiple nights. It gives you a completely different atmosphere from Pinehurst while keeping you close to everything happening during the festival.
Find a Local Beer or Cocktail
Barbecue and cold drinks have always gotten along pretty well, and the Sandhills gives you plenty of options beyond Saturday’s bourbon tasting. Local breweries, a cidery, a distillery, cocktail bars, and restaurant patios make it easy to find somewhere to settle in between festival events.
We wouldn’t try to hit everything. Pick a place that looks good, order something local, and enjoy having nowhere you need to be until the next plate of barbecue.
Where to Stay
Our vote is to check in Friday afternoon and stay through at least Sunday night. That gives you time to enjoy all four festival experiences without turning the weekend into a series of drives back and forth.
Pinehurst offers everything from historic resort accommodations to smaller local stays, with additional hotels, inns, and vacation rentals throughout Southern Pines, Aberdeen, and the surrounding Sandhills. Stay somewhere central, unpack for the weekend, and let barbecue dictate the rest of your schedule.
Come hungry. You’re going to need to.
