Ocracoke Fig Festival

 This past weekend we have enjoyed the Annual Ocracoke Fig Festival here on the island.

The first event of the Festival which Trish and I attended was a Porch Talk at the Ocracoke Preservation Society Museum given by Chester Lynn.  Chester’s family has been on the island for more than ten generations and two of his ancestors were on Blackbeard’s crew.  He knows more about the island figs, how to grow them, what’s wrong with them, and their unique history than anyone on or off the island.  Each year Chester propagates about 750 fig plants to be sold and planted.  He is a library of fig history and knowledge.

We then spent Saturday morning time at the Berkeley Center where there were booths for artisans with fig related products.  There was also the fig cake contest featuring both traditional and contemporary recipes, the fig preserve contest, and fig cake tasting all around.  There was a special fig recipe dinner with James Beard Award Chef Ricky Moore of the Saltbox Seafood Joint in Durham.

We do have lots of festivals on the island and the Fig Festival is one of our favorites.