The Pit celebrates National Whole Hog Barbecue Day with pitmasters cooking whole hog out front and sauce-making for guests.
The Pit is celebrating National Whole Hog Barbecue Day on Saturday, October 17, with pitmasters cooking whole hogs out front and sauce-making for guests. The day starts at 1 PM at 328 W Davie St in the Warehouse District.
There's a bit of a full-circle story here. The Pit actually founded National Whole Hog Barbecue Day in 2022 to honor the tradition of cooking a whole hog over wood coals. The custom itself goes back to 1980 in Halifax County, when friends gathered along the Roanoke River for a pig pickin'. That tradition moved to Raleigh in 1983, timed to the N.C. State Fair and the fall harvest, before shifting downtown in 2007 when The Pit opened in the Warehouse District. The day celebrates a slow, hands-on method rooted in the American South, where whole-hog barbecue has been practiced for generations, and it frames the meal as an experience that values tradition, craftsmanship, and community.
That whole-hog style traces back more than 350 years to eastern North Carolina, where vinegar-based chopped pork began. It's also where the regional divide over sauce comes from: vinegar-based in the east, sweeter in the west. The day also nods to the first Whole Hog Barbecue Championship, which the North Carolina Pork Council organized in 1985.
Every week we pick 🏆 the 5 best 🏆 things to do in Raleigh and send them to your inbox. Just one weekly email, no spam.
By submitting your email, you accept our Privacy Policy
On the day, you'll see the pitmasters working the whole hogs out front, and they'll be making sauce for guests to try. It all kicks off at 1 PM at The Pit, 328 W Davie St, Raleigh, NC 27601-1746, in the Warehouse District.
