NEW YORK—For the 11th year in a row, the Big Apple Barbecue Block Party put on a huge show in midtown Manhattan.
Staged in and around Madison Square Park in the Flatiron District, a large portion of the festival proceeds are donated to the Madison Square Park Conservancy.
The food, drinks, and music festival brings together barbecue experts—or pitmasters—from all over the U.S. for some serious eating. Judging by the size of the crowd on sunny Sunday afternoon, New Yorkers love the barbecue from South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Mississippi, Virginia, Alabama, North Carolina, and beyond that gets imported for two days every June.
Aside from local standards such as Blue Smoke and Hill Country, one of the most popular annual favorite’s is Martin’s Bar-B-Que from Nolensville, Tennessee just outside of Nashville. Pitmaster Patrick Martin is nationally renowned and one of a rare handful of pitmasters who knows how to barbecue an entire hog (called whole hog). On Sunday, the line to Martin’s food truck was impossibly long.
This year’s festival was June 8 and 9, Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m. both days.
