Calling All Bakers
Enter your cake in one of Three Award Categories:
- Traditional Ocracoke Recipe (You can find the traditional recipe in local cookbooks, or at www.preserveocracoke.com.) Traditional ingredients are limited to flour, sugar, oil/butter/margarine, eggs, pecans/walnuts, fig preserves, milk/buttermilk, vanilla, and salt/spices. A sugar glaze or sour cream frosting also accepted.
- Innovative (Anything goes, as long as it's figgy!)
- Fig Kids (Anything goes, as long as it's figgy – and the cook is 16 or under!)
Enter in one or all categories.
Cakes are judged on Presentation, Traditional/Innovative Flavors, and Figginess.
No need to sign up ahead of time! Deliver your uncut Fig Cake entry to the Ocracoke Preservation Society Museum between 10am and 3pm on Saturday, August 17th. Fig Festival volunteers will get your information and assign a number to your cake. If you’d like to share your recipe, please bring a copy.
Judging begins at 4:00pm; winners are announced at 5:00pm (broadcast live on WOVV 90.1 FM or listen online at wovv.org). The audience is welcome to join in the Fig-For-All when we eat the entries!
The Fig Cake Bake-Off is the main event of the Fig Festival – a 2-day celebration of Ocracoke's love affair with sweet and delicious figs.
The fun begins Friday afternoon with a Porch Talk at the Ocracoke Preservation Society Museum at 4pm. Chester Lynn, Ocracoke's fig expert, will give a presentation about the island’s many fig tree varieties, the fruit they bear, and how Ocracokers like to eat them.
New this year is “The Savory Side of Figs” from 5–7pm in the Museum. This ticketed event ($20 per person) will feature figgy heavy hors d’oeuvres and sample entrees from Ocracoke restaurants accompanied by beer, wine, and fig-infused tea. Space is limited; reserve a ticket by calling 252-928-7375.
Across the street at the Berkley Barn, all are welcome to the Traditional Ocracoke Square Dance with caller Philip Howard and live music provided by Molasses Creek from 6-8pm. The annual Fig Preserve Tasting Contest begins at 5:30pm and offers festival-goers a chance to sample several varieties of fig preserves and vote for their favorites. (Tasting tickets are $3 each.) There’ll also be free fig cake samples for all, and beer, wine, and soft drinks available for purchase.
Saturday's events begin at 10am with vendor booths (selling all things fig-tastic!), live music from local musicians, storytelling, fun for kids, and more on the OPS Museum grounds until 5pm.
Saturday evening, the festivities move back to the Berkley Barn with live music from 6-11pm. Acoustic sets from Martin Garrish & Friends start off the event, followed by a dance party with the Ocracoke Rockers beginning at 8pm. Beer, wine, and soft drinks will be available to purchase; the fig cake is free!
Questions? Call Sundae Horn at 252-921-0283.
The Ocracoke Fig Festival is sponsored by Ocracoke Preservation Society.
About OPS: The Ocracoke Preservation Society is a 501c-3 non-profit, community-based organization dedicated to the preservation of Ocracoke Island’s rich historical and cultural heritage.
