A feather in the community's cap
By Joey Pitchford
Published in News on September 10, 2017 1:45 AM
News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Jet Fleetwood, 5, and Jaxon Morelos, 3, pose for photos around the Beak Week wooden cutouts Saturday.
News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Anna Bennett, 3, and Addie Johnson, 4, bang on drums in a tents set up in the children's area at the annual Beak Week Festival in downtown Goldsboro Saturday.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Lucas Alford, 8 months, tries to pluck feathers out of Alice Huneycutt's chicken Saturday during the annual Beak Week Festival in downtown Goldsboro. Huneycutt had a booth set up to inform people about backyard chickens. Also pictured, Lucas' father Carter Alford.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Campers are set up in the empty lot at the intersection of Center and Spruce Streets as competitors cook Saturday during the Beak Week Festival.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Campers are set up in the empty lot at the intersection of Center and Spruce Streets as competitors cook Saturday during the Beak Week Festival.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Audrey Wu, 5, goes down an inflatable slide followed by her sister Natalie, 2, Saturday in the children's area during Beak Week.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Sheila McInnis smiles as is awarded best costume during the Beak Week Beer Run in downtown Goldsboro Tuesday evening. The event was piggybacked on the weekly run that begins at Well Travelled Beer and the over 40 people who registered were given a gift card from event sponsor Bojangles' and a draft beer when they returned back to Well Travelled.
The fourth annual Beak Week festival took over Center Street Saturday, as hundreds headed downtown to enjoy the food and festivities.
Despite fears that Hurricane Irma might ruin the fun, the skies were crystal clear, and a light breeze kept the temperature down as families enjoyed games, vendors and live music. One of the bands playing the event was Rolling Smoke, a country band sponsored by Conecuh Sausage which travels to events like Beak Week to perform and give out samples.
The band set up in front of city hall, in front of their 1965 Chevy C30 truck, and began to play. Kevin Sport, one of the band's founding members, said he hoped the festival attendees like what they heard.
"They way we see it, we want everybody who loves food, people and music to be part of the Rolling Smoke Nation," he said. "We would love to come back next year if they'll have us."
Across the street, cooking teams were hard at work preparing their signature barbecue for the annual Pig in the Park competition, a Boys and Girls Club fundraising event which was rolled into Beak Week this year.
Gordon Thompson, along with friends Mike Hetrick and Scott Jeffery formed the "BBQ Crew" team, cooking their old-fashioned barbecue on a cooker the three built themselves. Thompson, the head cook, said the team began cooking their hog around 10:30 the previous night, using a sauce Thompson's father created.
While the group hoped for a trophy, the real point was to help other people, Hetrick said.
"This is really about the Boys and Girls Club," he said. "We're all about giving back to the community."
Of course, it would not be Beak Week without birds. Vendors up and down Center Street sold chicken wings and sandwiches, and the Pig in the Park tournament added a Turkey competition to fit the theme.
Some of the chickens, however, were not of the fried variety. Alice Huneycutt stood under a tent with four of her backyard chickens -- named Buttermilk, Eggplant, Pot Pie and Kung Pao -- to educate passersby on how to care for chickens as members of the family.
"They're much easier to take care of [than dogs or cats], and they give you eggs to eat," she said. "Once you've had fresh eggs, you can't go back to store-bought."
Huneycutt took her pets out of their cages for passersby to meet, touch and, in the case of one particularly enthusiastic young child, accidentally pluck a few feathers from. She has eight chickens in total, and said that they are fun and rewarding animals to work with.
That, of course, did not stop her husband from eating chicken wings a few feet away, which both acknowledged with a laugh.
"I wouldn't eat these ones," she said, gesturing to her birds. "These ones are my pets."