The East-West Barbecue Festival came to downtown Greensboro this past weekend. Allen McDavid, host of the Texas Pete Twin City Rib Festival in Winston-Salem since 2005, brought the festival to Greensboro for the first time. “My dream is always to bring the three North Carolina styles together,” McDavid said.

“Folks in Winston sure have responded to it so we hope the folks in Greensboro will respond to it as well,” he added.

Pit masters from as far west as Arkansas and as close as Battleground Ave were nestled in the food area serving the festivals attendees.

The barbeque vendors housed trophies in front of their stands showcasing recognition of their expertise.

Mark Grant, one of the barbeque vendors and principle of Porky Chicks, had a number of trophies he won from competitions over the years.

“We won several [trophies] I don’t even know how many to count them,” said Grant.

He has been in the barbecue business for roughly 13 years commuting to various competitions.

“You can’t count [the trophies] after you get so high,” he added.

Barbeque vendors were not the only businesses in attendance. Other notable vendors such as DirecTV, Dish Network, and AT&T were on hand as well.

A smaller vendor among the crowd was Hillbilly Bob’s Soda, a nearly 50-year-old homemade soda business that was started by the current owner Barry Muse’s grandfather in Somerset, Kentucky, which has since been passed down from generation to generation. Muse used to dig up the sassafras roots to make tea and then we decided to make root beer out of it,” said Muse.

Over time, three more flavors were added: cream soda, black cherry and grape. Muse said they do not plan on adding any other flavors to the menu, “[You] can’t give people too many choices it takes them too long to decide,” he said jokingly.

Also on tap were attractions for the kids. From camel rides to the quad power jump, children had plenty of exciting and fascinating things to captivate their minds.

Despite the rain that attempted to ruin the parade Saturday, live music artists performed on two stages. Entertainment ranged from reggae to rock and roll. One performing musician was twenty-four-year-old Laila Nur. Originally from N.Y., she gradually made her way to the south, with the Greensboro area as her last stop. Nur, whose sound could be audibly linked to the neo-soul genre, sings to inspire and be inspired.

Nur started out when she went to buy a keyboard but could not afford it and instead bought a guitar that she would later regret buying since it could not be returned. She does not know any chords and cannot read music, so she just plays by ear. Her sound is a mixture of everything but she goes by a genre she created called revolutionary love music because, “regardless of the genre everybody feels it because it’s revolutionary love music.”

People sat on the lawn, watched the performances, walked around, and sat under the large tent to enjoy their meals. One of these people was Angela Aldrich who said, “I love[d] it, I love[d] all the performances… I just walked up on it I was going to the park over there and I just came over.”

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• Tracy Durandis & Dashawn Fleming, Contributors