Asheboro

Lions and giraffes, farming and textiles, culture and cocktails, all stuffed into one welcoming community in the heart of the state

- Leah Hughes

THE OYSTERS are gone. The roast began at 3 p.m., and three hours later, more than 10 bushels of the salty bivalves have been consumed by hungry Asheboro residents and washed down with pints of beer.

Joel McClosky predicted the event would be popular. When the folks at NC Fresh Catch contacted him about hosting an event to promote North Carolina-caught seafood at his Four Saints Brewing Company, they told him they needed 150 people to clear expenses. “You’ll be fine,” he said. But to make a profit, they said, they’d need 200. “You’ll be fine,” he told them. To have a home-run event, they said, they’d need 250. “You’ll be fine,” McClosky repeated. “Look, if you bring fresh oysters to Asheboro, people will come out of the woodwork.”

And they did.

They formed a line down Fayetteville Street, one of the main drags through this Piedmont town. They filled McClosky’s taproom, forming a line that snaked from the concrete bar around a large community table. They packed the picnic tables out back and the benches in neighboring Bicentennial Park. Lawyers and dentists and blue-collar workers, button-up shirts and baseball caps, millennials and children and grandparents and dogs.

Asheboro was alive. The event was a home run.