Ocracoke Fig Festival to feature Wilmington, NC Chef Dean Neff

This free, family-friendly event takes place August 1-2 on Ocracoke Island

The Ocracoke community will celebrate the summer’s fig bounty with special guest chef Dean Neff.

Dean Neff is the owner and chef of Wilmington, NC’s Seabird – the sustainable seafood restaurant and oyster bar devoted to celebrating North Carolina’s coast, and the new owner of Wilmington’s oldest seafood market – Zora’s Seafood & Kitchen. A James Beard Foundation “Outstanding Chef” Finalist and “Best Chef Southeast” nominee, Neff opened Seabird in Spring 2021 as his first solo venture with wife Lydia Clopton, and took the reins at Zora’s in 2024.

At Seabird, Neff changes the menu daily based on back-door deliveries from coastal fishers, farmers, and foragers. Neff is an outspoken champion of North Carolina’s Oyster Trail, is a regional council member for the Food Bank of Central and Eastern NC and serves on the North Carolina Fish Consumption Advisory at Duke University. During a previous visit to Ocracoke, Neff served as a judge at the Ocracoke Clam Chowder Cook-Off!

The 11th annual Fig Festival will take place at the Berkley Barn and Manor on Ocracoke Island. The festival features live music, traditional Ocracoke square dancing, children’s crafts, talks by local fig experts, and vendor booths offering fig preserves, fig cakes, fig trees, local cookbooks, and other fig-tastic items. The showpiece of the Fig Festival is the Fig Cake Bake-Off, where bakers are invited to submit entries in one of more of three categories: Traditional, Innovative, and Seafood, and young bakers are encouraged to enter the Youth category. Chef Dean is excited to serve as a guest judge at the Bake-Off. The weekend’s finale will be a dance with the Ocracoke Rockers!

New for 2025 is the Ocracoke Fig Festival’s partnership with Mended Wing Theatre Co., a grass-roots theatre company that tours small-cast productions of Shakespeare’s plays to schools, parks, and other venues in the Southeast with a focus on affordability for the audience and sustainability for the artists. Mended Wing is a registered 501(3)(c) organization with a home base in Ocracoke, NC. The Mended Wing players will stage performances of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” on the festival grounds, adding a new, exciting element to the Fig Festival offerings.

Ocracoke Fig Festival is also pleased to announce the establishment of an annual John Simpson Memorial Scholarship to be funded by Fig Festival proceeds. The scholarship will be awarded to an Ocracoke graduating senior beginning in June 2026. John is remembered as a Fig Festival vendor, award-winning Fig BBQ sauce creator, fig tree grower, artist, decoy carver, and stalwart supporter of Ocracoke’s heritage events. He was a proud son of Ocracoke and an integral part of the Fig Festival for its first ten years.

Chef Dean Neff will be the Fig Festival’s special guest at the annual Savory Fig Dinner on Thursday evening, July 31, 2025. This popular fundraising event features savory fig dishes from local chefs and one special item made by Chef Dean. Entertainment will be provided by Mended Wing’s merry band of players. Space is limited; tickets for this evening will go on sale on Tuesday, July 1, 2025.

During the weeks leading up to the Fig Festival and following, island eateries will offer fig-infused menu items both savory and sweet to celebrate peak fig season. Local shops will stock this year’s selection of fig preserves, so you can take some Ocracoke sweetness home with you.

The Ocracoke Fig Festival is sponsored by Mended Wing Theater Company. Proceeds will benefit Ocracoke-based non-profit organizations. All expenses for the Mended Wing performances will be covered by Mended Wing’s independent fundraising efforts.

For more information, including details about the Bake-Off, donor information, vendor spaces, volunteer opportunities, and the Fig Festival schedule, contact Sundae Horn at (252-921-0283) or ocracokefigfestival@gmail.com.