N.C. Turkey Festival and Hometown Pride

by Joyce Bullard

Welcome to Raeford, Hoke County, North Carolina, home of the North Carolina Turkey Festival where the tea is sweet and the folks are friendly. Located in southern North Carolina, the county was established in 1911 and named after Brigadier General Robert F. Hoke who served in the Confederate war. Farming and millwork are the most popular trades, but the town is famous for its turkeys. Turkey farms, turkey plants, and the one and only turkey festival.

It was at the turkey festival where I became close friends with Judy Melton Pittman. She has served on the Turkey Festival Board for 25 years. I first met Judy in the early 1990’s when she was the Hoke County Tax Administrator. Judy watched the county grow and encountered the trials and tribulations of growing up in a small southern rural community where everybody knows everybody and stated, “It’s not what you know; it’s who you know.” Southern people have southern pride.

Judy was born at home on April 9, 1945 in an old tobacco barn that was connected to their house. In poor southern communities it was very common to be born at home as the closest hospital was 25 miles away in the city of Fayetteville. Her father worked in construction and moved from job to job. Her mother ran the household which was also common in this southern town. It was hard work and they lived paycheck to paycheck. In 1964 Judy married Jimmy Pittman who like a lot of men from this area, being so close to Ft. Bragg, joined the military while Judy and her daughter, Melissa, stayed with her parents. This arrangement was common when men went to fight for their country.

In 1983 the county held the first Hob Knob Festival, which is now known as the Turkey Festival. In the early days, it was held in the high school gym with around 2,000 visitors. Judy began working as a volunteer and would later serve as president for three terms. There were twenty-one special events, including a horse show, softball, volleyball and flying model airplanes. I ask her what kept the turkey festival going all these years. She looked at me with a smile, and said, “The food, of course -- it’s not a festival without fried collard sandwiches, lemonade, and deep fried pickles.” In its twenty-eighth year the festival has grown to over 60,000 visitors.

Judy recalls her childhood and remembers with laughter the time her grandma and grandpa first got electricity. Her grandmother kept trying to blow out the light bulb. Her grandfather was the biggest bootlegger in Hoke County. Being in a small community he would get information that he was about to be raided and would hide all the liquor before the police showed up. Judy remembers when the first black student attended her school. On weekends Judy and Jimmy would go to the drive-in movie, have popcorn, drink, and then go out for ice cream and would only spend fifty cents. Judy rolled her eyes, and said, “Fifty cents won’t buy you a pack of gum these days.”

Growing up in the South and raised on southern traditions, Judy remembers with a smile the changes the county as seen through the years. You can still find good home-style mom and pop restaurants where you can have collards, fatback, and chitin’s or take a walk down Main Street and feel the traditional small town wonders. You see churches on every corner and farmers still working their fields. But as peaceful as it is, this southern town comes alive in September as the North Carolina Turkey Festival brings joy, laughter, and tradition to its townsfolk and the thousands of visitors who come through.

Work Cited

Pittman, Judy. Personal interview. 3 Feb. 2012.


Note: Joyce Bullard, who is from Raeford, NC, is pursuing the digital media curriculum at Sandhills Community College.