The popular barbecue competition, Bone Suckin’ Sauce Peak City Pig Fest, returns to downtown Apex this weekend. The festival starts today, July 23 at 5 p.m. on N. Salem Street (near the Apex Police Dept. and the Apex Fire Dept.) + continues tomorrow.

Festival goers can expect live music, a beer garden, and a lot of meat — 31 cook teams will compete for over $12,000 in prize money + to be NC’s representative in the Jack Daniels World Championship Invitational Barbecue.

How does it work? Teams will be judged in 4 different categories — beef brisket, ribs, chicken, and pork. Points will be given based on appearance, taste, and texture and the team with the highest overall score will be declared the grand champion. To avoid bias, judges won’t know who cooked what.

While cook teams are not allowed to directly sell the meat they cook at the festival, the public is invited to watch the teams work (behind the Halle Center). The Rotary Foundation will be selling barbecue at the food tent on site + The Redneck BBQ Lab food truck will be on location as well. TryThis: A pulled pork plate with a side of mac — add double mac for $1.

Throughout the festival, the rotary club will also be hosting various events in the beer garden. The Anything Butt competition starts tonight at 7 p.m. + the rib eating contest (police vs. firefighters) is tonight at 8 p.m. The winner of the Peak City Pig Fest competition will be announced on Saturday at 5 p.m.

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