Organizers have called off this year's Lexington Barbecue Festival for the second year in a row.
Mayor Newell Clark says the free-flowing nature of the event made it difficult to put safety measures in place.
“It's open to anyone,” he says. “It's free. It's over 150,000 people on a given day and time. There was really not a way we could mandate masks, social distancing ... all those things that we could ask for if, say, we were doing it in an amphitheater.”
The Davidson County Health Department reports that as of Sept. 1 fewer than 40 percent of the county's eligible residents are fully vaccinated. Clark says that creates health concerns.
Labor was also an issue. He says restaurants that typically hire 40 to 50 people to help out for the day are finding it tough to find enough workers.
The first annual Lexington Barbecue Festival launched back in 1984. A study done after the 30th event found it had an economic impact on the area of more than $9 million.