While most places start to cool down a bit in the fall, for the past three years, September has been the hottest month in Oxford.

That’s because September in Oxford means it’s time for the annual North Carolina Hot Sauce Contest, which showcases not only North Carolina hot sauces, but also local microbreweries, wines, barbecue sauces and fiery foods. But the event is more than just food and drink. Other activities include a 5K run, antique appraisals, a plant sale, a book sale, a heritage festival, free carriage rides and a motorcycle ride to benefit children.

“Our entire town joins together for the event,” says Julia Overton, creator of the contest. “It’s way more than hot sauce. It’s really fun to see the way a community all comes together to put on a large event.”
Overton, owner of Stovall’s Gifts in downtown Oxford, says the inspiration for the N.C. Hot Sauce Contest came from her store. Stovall’s Gifts carries a variety of specialty foods from North Carolina, and Overton is on the board of directors of the North Carolina Specialty Foods Association.

“I started meeting all these people who were making products, trying to get their products into little specialty stores and needing help with that,” Overton says. “These were hardworking, regular people just like me who were trying to make a living and pursue a dream. So I started trying to figure out ways to help.”

At about that time, Overton found out that Granville County is home to Bailey Farms, the largest producer and distributor of chili peppers on the East Coast. Thus the North Carolina Hot Sauce Contest was born.
“We were looking for a smokin’ hot event to showcase local producers and to bring people to downtown Oxford, and in 2007 we invented the North Carolina Hot Sauce Contest,” Overton says.

The 2009 competition drew nearly a dozen local hot sauce producers to compete for the top prizes, including Bailey Farms, which took home the Critic’s Choice award in 2008 for its Chocolate Habanero Hot Sauce, and Spice It Up Gourmet Foods, which in 2008 took home both the People’s Choice Award and the Meet the Heat Award.

A new addition to this year’s contest is the Hot Chili Pepper Eating Contest, which tests participants’ ability to keep their cool while downing some of the state’s hottest peppers.

“It’s really going to be great,” Overton says. “True to the mission of the contest, we tried to keep as much local as we could, and I think we’ve done a really good job with that.”