Discover the Freshest Meats at Lee’s Fresh Market with Kylie Lee

Jonathan Breeden: [00:00:00] what makes it different? I mean, a lot of people that have tried to do what y’all have done. Very few people have had the success that y’all had, particularly in a short period of time in the retail business.

why all that success so quickly?

Kylie Lee: so we, when we originally bought it, my dad had the plan of building a grocery store, making it very accessible to a lot of the community and stuff like that. which I’m glad they did, but. I mean, we just do it out there.

We try to get the best deals that we can. There’s no middleman because we’re getting the animals straight off of local farmers to process. So it’s not like we’re going to need like the big companies and stuff. So we automatically get the prices a lot cheaper, which I’m glad, you know, helping out the community because as we know, everybody’s.

Probably struggling right now a little bit. So we try to keep it fair,

Narrator: Welcome to another episode of Best of Johnston County, brought to you by Breeden Law Office. Our host, Jonathan Breeden, an experienced family lawyer with a deep connection to the community, is ready to take you on a journey through the area that he has called home for over 20 years. Whether [00:01:00] it’s a deep dive into the love locals have for the county or unraveling the complexities of family law, Best of Johnston County presents an authentic slice of this unique community.

Jonathan Breeden: Hello and welcome to another edition of The Best of Johnston County podcast. I’m your host, Jonathan Breeden, and today we have a special guest, Kylie Lee from Lee’s Fresh Market on Benson Hardee Road in Benson, North Carolina.

We’re going to talk about the different types of meats they provide, the processing of meat they do, some of the things they do in the community, how in the world we ended up with such a great big fresh market in Benson over the last couple years as they’ve added on to what was initially a slaughterhouse and a window. I think you will find this absolutely fascinating.

And if you want great fresh meat, they will be glad to help you out. Welcome Kylie.

Kylie Lee: Hey. Well, cool.

Jonathan Breeden: All right, Well, tell me what’s your name? Tell me a little bit about yourself.

Kylie Lee: I’m Kylie Lee, I’m on Lee’s Fresh Market in Benson. We bought it probably about 7 or [00:02:00] 8 years ago, and we recently just opened a store on the front of it about 2 or 3 years ago.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay, yeah. And it’s, right there on Benson Hardee Road, right around the corner from Benson Elementary School.

Kylie Lee: Yes. Not far.

Jonathan Breeden: And not too far from main street. And I guess it started as McLamb’s? It was a window or something, right?

Kylie Lee: Yes, It was a slaughterhouse house. It had one little walk up window to the front. It was originally a slaughterhouse. We bought that and decided to go bigger and better with it and build us a little market on the front.

Jonathan Breeden: I guess it started, really is that window like, it was like 1978, right?

Kylie Lee: Yes. Right.

Jonathan Breeden: And

Kylie Lee: who,

Jonathan Breeden: who did that?

Kylie Lee: Danny McLamb. He was at the original owner that we bought it from.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay, all right. And so, how long had it been a slaughterhouse?

Kylie Lee: Close to 38 years, Okay. yeah.

Jonathan Breeden: So, it was a slaughterhouse that had a window?

Kylie Lee: Yes.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. All right. Danny McLamb owned it there, Okay. All right. I got you. And then, you said 7 or 8 years ago? I guess.

Kylie Lee: We ended up buying the slaughterhouse from Danny and we ran that for a little while. And decided we wanted to do something [00:03:00] bigger, better, and we built us a grocery store.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. Oh, that’s awesome. That’s awesome. So, who owns this? I mean, It’s your family, right?

Kylie Lee: Yes, Eddie Lee and Shane Lee. They’re my grandpa and my dad.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. All right. Cool. And, Do they work there everyday?

Kylie Lee: They do.

Jonathan Breeden: You work there everyday?

Kylie Lee: I do.

Jonathan Breeden: All right. So, was it your idea? Was it your dad? Whose idea was to buy this slaughterhouse?

Kylie Lee: They came up with it together. We were getting out of farming and we raised hogs on the ground and stuff, took some hogs up there to be processed and we bought the place.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay, I got you, all right. And so, for the first 6 or 7 or 8 years, you kept it just as the slaughterhouse that it was?

Kylie Lee: Yes, we kept the original name. We kept it under McLamb’s and we kept the original slaughterhouse, really didn’t change a whole lot.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay, I got you. Did you keep the window?

Kylie Lee: We kept the window and we still have the window.

Jonathan Breeden: You still have the window? I got you and then I guess, whose idea was or how did you come up with the idea that, we’re going to build a store and going to, because retail is a [00:04:00] whole different thing than slaughter.

It

is,

Kylie Lee: It is. So, really honestly, what we thought was we need a market fresh meat, none of the stuff that you can, that are additives and all this kind of stuff in it. Everything that we have is fresh. There’s nothing added to it to make it last longer. It is processed on site and it goes into the grocery store.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. And so that was the way y’all wanted to do it?

Kylie Lee: Yes.

Right. Well, And I think it was, sort of the, I don’t know. It was like, I was on your website and it was like, Bringing Back the Neighborhood Butcher.

Yes.

Jonathan Breeden: You know, I thought that was a great slogan. I don’t know who came up with that, with that, but like, you know, we had, we had Tim Sims on a few weeks ago and he’s a local dentist here at 4042. And he was like, I just wanted the family dentist that I went to in Garner and that’s what I tried to create. And it sounds like that’s what y’all are trying to create with the old school butcher shop.

Kylie Lee: Definitely. We’re trying to make everybody feel comfortable, feel like family when they walk in there. We try to help everybody. You can get custom cut meats. If you don’t see anything in the store, on the shelf that you need? We can [00:05:00] cut it right then right there for you.

Jonathan Breeden: So, how do y’all make sure everything stays fresh? Where are you sourcing this meat?

Kylie Lee: Local farmers. That’s where we get everything from.

Jonathan Breeden: So the local farmers are, and I guess given the sheer size of this place, y’all are slaughtering every day.

Kylie Lee: Every day, Monday through Friday.

Jonathan Breeden: Yeah.

Kylie Lee: I mean, so,

Jonathan Breeden: There are animals being brought there every day.

Kylie Lee: Yes, sir.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. You know, approximately how many?

Kylie Lee: well, Typically, we run probably, 40, 50 cows every week. More pigs than that, probably 200, 300 pigs. Cause we do sell whole barbecue pigs for uh, pig pickings and stuff like that.

Jonathan Breeden: Oh my goodness. That’s a lot.

Kylie Lee: Yeah.

Jonathan Breeden: How many employees y’all have?

Kylie Lee: Little under 50.

Jonathan Breeden: Man, that’s a lot of employees.

Kylie Lee: Yes, sir.

Jonathan Breeden: So is it now broken up into divisions? Like Is there a retail division and a slaughter division?

Kylie Lee: So, we have the retail store on the front. We have a retail cutting room. That’s where all the meat is cut and put in the store for. We have our original slaughter floor, and then we have a processing room in the back.

And that’s where the custom cuts come [00:06:00] into order from people bringing their own animals up there and getting processed. And they take that back, put it in their freezer, and they’re set to go for a couple months up to a year.

Jonathan Breeden: Right? So that is one of the things y’all do is, you will process people’s animals for them.

Kylie Lee: Yes.

Jonathan Breeden: And I know you said, you do that for a lot of the farmers around here and some of the other people that are in the retail business, you do some of the processing for them.

Kylie Lee: A lot of the North Carolina meat handlers, they come up there to get their stuff processed so they can take it to farmers markets and if they only have their own market, we process all that for them.

Jonathan Breeden: Holly, that’s a lot. How do you keep up with all of that?

Kylie Lee: A lot of work.

Jonathan Breeden: can’t imagine. So, at this point, is it a slaughterhouse of a retail store? Or is it a retail store for slaughterhouse? I know it starts a slaughterhouse, but which way do you see it?

Kylie Lee: Right now, we all look at it as one big collided building at this point. It’s not really sectioned off anymore. When you walk in, you’re going to go into the store. [00:07:00] But, right now it all works together to make everything keep moving.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. How big is the store?

Kylie Lee: It’s not really that big. We should have built it bigger. We didn’t really plan for it to be booming like this so early on, but we’re happy that it did.

Jonathan Breeden: Well, I mean, Particularly on Saturday mornings, you, can’t get in there.

Kylie Lee: No, those free sausage biscuits that we hand out every Saturday morning is a very popular item.

Jonathan Breeden: I definitely have to go down there and get me a sausage biscuit. So, but now, I mean, I guess, the retail store has been there since 2022.

Kylie Lee: Yes.

Jonathan Breeden: And

Kylie Lee: it’s,

Jonathan Breeden: people come from all over, right?

Kylie Lee: Everywhere. We have people come from Virginia, South Carolina, just basically to fill up their freezers and we’ll see them again in a couple months.

Jonathan Breeden: I guess it helps being next to I-95.

Kylie Lee: It is. It’s very accessible from I-95 and 40.

Right. So, well that’s, that’s wild. so I mean, what, I mean, what makes it different? I mean, a lot of people that have tried to do what y’all have done. Very few people have had the success that y’all [00:08:00] had, particularly in a short period of time in the retail business.

Jonathan Breeden: why all that success so quickly?

Well,

Kylie Lee: we don’t really, we couldn’t figure it out to begin with. so we, when we originally bought it, my dad had the plan of building a grocery store, making it very accessible to a lot of the community and stuff like that. which I’m glad they did, but. I mean, we just do it out there.

We try to get the best deals that we can. There’s no middleman because we’re getting the animals straight off of local farmers to process. So it’s not like we’re going to need like the big companies and stuff. So we automatically get the prices a lot cheaper, which I’m glad, you know, helping out the community because as we know, everybody’s.

Probably struggling right now a little bit. So we try to keep it fair,

Jonathan Breeden: right? And so because there is no middleman you can offer I guess better prices on these cuts

Kylie Lee: their

prices

Jonathan Breeden: Um

Kylie Lee: right now we’re doing a lot of bundle boxes, especially for like large families and stuff We do mixed bundle boxes. You can get a 10 [00:09:00] pound box of hamburger for

Jonathan Breeden: like

Kylie Lee: 25

Jonathan Breeden: So

so what’s a bundle box?

Kylie Lee: It has different cuts of meat in it It ranges from 15 all the way up to probably around 30 pounds.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay.

Kylie Lee: And it’s vacuum sealed. Everything’s ready for your freezer. People come in, grab a box, take it home.

Jonathan Breeden: And it includes, I guess, different types of meat.

Kylie Lee: Beef, pork, chicken, just depending on. What they want.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. And so they can just buy that box. And then they’ve got a little bit of everything. So they don’t have to eat the same thing every night. You know, that kind of stuff. Well, that’s kind of neat.

Kylie Lee: Especially it helps with the families that are busy. They don’t really want to go spend a lot of time in the grocery store.

So. Come in, grab a box and you’re set.

Right.

Jonathan Breeden: Are y’all set up to take,

Kylie Lee: um,

Jonathan Breeden: snap?

Kylie Lee: We are not.

Jonathan Breeden: You’re not. Okay.

All right. So you don’t take snap. Okay. so do y’all sell anything other than meats in this retail store?

Kylie Lee: We do. Um, we have. Milk, a lot of grocery items, stuff like that. We do sell frozen seafood. and we have a bunch of the pick five sections that you’ve probably seen that on our [00:10:00] Facebook page somewhere.

pick five vegetables. You can get five packs of vegetables for, I think it’s $24.99 a lot of people like that. We do our, um, fresh produce and stuff like that. We also recently opened our flower stand back up

in the

summertime. So now we’re selling plants and hanging baskets and stuff like that.

I mean,

Jonathan Breeden: that’s I don’t know how y’all keep up with all of that.

I mean, right. I mean, I mean, it’s a lot. I mean, you’re talking about, I mean, fresh produce is its own separate. I mean I mean, but I guess if you’re trying to do fresh meat, fresh produce, sort of the same thing.

Kylie Lee: Yeah. We try to, you know, one stop shop kind of deal.

Jonathan Breeden: I got you. So, what are the, um, I mean, I guess, I mean, I don’t know.

Your website says you have a hundred different types of cuts. What are the most popular cuts? Um, ribeyes,

Kylie Lee: Ribeyes ribeye steaks are very popular. what people love the burgers. The sausage, which on Saturday morning, we sell a lot of, especially after they taste the biscuits. we make all of our sausage in house, so it’s our own blends, all [00:11:00] that kind of stuff.

we make all the hamburgers there too, so. Everything’s ground on site.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. Oh, that’s cool. That’s cool. I mean, I love, I love ribeyes. I love sausage. I mean, those are like my two favorite meats. I mean, you know, it sounds like, you know, the, um, probably the ribeyes aren’t the best for the diet, but I do love ribeyes.

I mean? Y’all sell sausage or blends or I mean, rubs or any of that kind of stuff?

Kylie Lee: We do.

We sell a lot of sauces, rubs, all that kind of stuff. We, um, actually got our own restaurant. seasoning line in, you’ll come in, you’ll see all the seasoning bottles with Lee’s Fresh Market

stuck

on the front of them.

Jonathan Breeden: You sell other lines of seasoning and rubs too?

Kylie Lee: We do.

Jonathan Breeden: What are some of the more popular brands?

Kylie Lee: Redneck Barbecue Lab.

Jonathan Breeden: Oh yeah, those guys

are great and other Johnston County business.

Kylie Lee: Yes They sell a lot of that stuff. Stubb’s Barbecue, we sell a lot of their sauces. They’re very popular. especially Vernon McLmab’s sauce.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay

Kylie Lee: sxsaaaxsxxs

That’s actually made him be, um, Dylan, I think. [00:12:00] So that was very popular.

Jonathan Breeden: Oh, man, that’s awesome. That’s awesome. So it’s not just a meat thing. It sounds like it’s a little bit of a everything. He was fine in a small grocery store, but you said you had milk and produce and now you got flowers.

Kylie Lee: Yeah.

Jonathan Breeden: So anyway,

well,

that’s cool.

That’s cool. So what other, so you said ribeyes and sausage. What are, what, what do you have? Any other things that are sort of uniquely leaves like, you, like your own recipes.

well,

Kylie Lee: we make our own meatloaf. It’s, ready to cook. It’s already made for you. All you have to do is take it home, put that thing in the oven.

Oh, man. Yep. We’ve recently gotten into the kebabs and stuff, like pre made kebabs, stuffed peppers, seasoned ribs. That way you can just take it home, throw them on the grill.

Jonathan Breeden: Man, now I’m getting hungry. And that’s what it’ll teach me to record this during lunch. time Now I think it’s something to eat. Golly.

Cause I mean, these are like all my favorite things, you know, about ribs and kebabs and, What are some of the other more popular [00:13:00] cuts?

Kylie Lee: so right now we’re doing a lot of, being that the summertime’s hit a little bit now, it’s mainly burgers. we do especially the cheddar bacon burgers, mix it with cheddar, cheddar cheese and bacon.

Okay. Throw them on the grill. They’re really popular right now. We do different seasoned burgers. we do a lot of seasoned chicken tenders and chicken wings. So they’re ready to roll. We’re trying to get into the The role of just already having the stuff done for the people, that way you’re not having to take it home and, you know, prep it and all that kind of stuff.

Jonathan Breeden: I tell you, you know, Lowes foods and they kind of got into that first in the grocery business. I know Harris Teeter’s now into that now and food line is sort of late to the game, but they’re starting to do it too. I mean, it seems to be. You know, everybody’s so busy, you know, everybody’s working. A lot of people are commuting to work.

Like they’re just looking for something that they can get that’s healthy. That’s fresh. And that’s easy because they don’t have time

to cook all this stuff.

You know,

especially when. [00:14:00] Most of the people in Johnston County work in Raleigh and have to commute up there and commute back. and so it sounds like y’all are trying to just meet the customers where they are, which is, you know, these sort of meals ready to eat.

Kylie Lee: Yes, it seems to help a lot. We have noticed that the sales on those have picked up quite a bit, especially during the summertime. Everybody wants to be outside, you know, doing yard work and stuff all that. So, we’re glad that we can help them with that.

Jonathan Breeden: Yeah. So, and now y’all are open 7 days a week.

Kylie Lee: We are open 7 days a week.

Jonathan Breeden: That’s new.

Cause it used to only be 6

Kylie Lee: It used to be 6 And so Monday through Saturday at 7am to 6pm. And then Sundays it’s 10am to 6pm.

Jonathan Breeden: So you now work 7 days a week?

Kylie Lee: I do not.

Jonathan Breeden: I hope not. But that’s the thing. I was in the restaurant business before I went to law school and it can be brutal if you don’t have, you know, decent management and employees that’ll show up.

I mean, that’s the thing. I was at a, I was [00:15:00] managing a restaurant and we were like, 5 days a week. And we were trying to go to 7 and I was talking to the owner of the restaurant and I’m like, we got to have just more and more reliable people.

Kylie Lee: Right.

Jonathan Breeden: Because if not, you and I are going to be here 7 days.

a week Um, this was 30 years ago, but still it’s the same thing

Kylie Lee: today. Yeah. It’s not changed much, but we are very blessed. all of our employees that they’re, they’re just like family to us. We have been very, very blessed with who we’ve got up there working.

Right.

Jonathan Breeden: And so people can order right there on the website, right?

Kylie Lee: We cut that off.

Jonathan Breeden: You did. Okay.

Kylie Lee: It

got really busy.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay.

Kylie Lee: So we’ve

took a break from that for a while,

but we

will open it back up at some point.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. Because you were getting more orders and maybe you could source.

Kylie Lee: Then we could handle at a time, especially on the weekends. It’s already busy in there on Fridays and Saturdays.

So during those days we were getting slammed with online orders and the people coming in and wanting, you know, [00:16:00] custom cuts and all that kind of stuff. It was just a little hard to keep up with.

Jonathan Breeden: I got you.

Kylie Lee: So,

Jonathan Breeden: but people can still call and order something.

Kylie Lee: They

can. You call the phone number on the website and you can call and place your order and come pick it up.

Jonathan Breeden: Right.

Kylie Lee: Well,

Jonathan Breeden: what is the phone

number?

Kylie Lee: 919-894-2587

Jonathan Breeden: All right. And what’s the website?

Kylie Lee: LeesFreshMarketNC.Com

Jonathan Breeden: and it also has Instagram?

Mm hmm,

Kylie Lee: Instagram and Facebook.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay, what are the tags for that?

Kylie Lee: Lee’s Fresh Market NC

Jonathan Breeden: Okay, alright,

so yeah, and, y’all are all over Google and stuff because I Googled it and found all kinds of stuff.

I found when I was looking, I found the, a story done by the Tar Heel Traveler at WRAL News. when was that done?

Kylie Lee: little less than 6 months ago, I think. Okay. Um, they come out, we, it was fun. I’ll give it that. It was very fun. great talking to them Yeah. And stuff that, telling them the story of the business and all.

Right. Right. I, and that’s, and, and,

Jonathan Breeden: and if you wanna find some interesting, go to YouTube. You may be watching this podcast on YouTube. but go, go to the Tar Heel Traveler, [00:17:00] search Lee’s Fresh Market and watch that story. it’ll put a smile on your face with the customers and the sausage biscuits and, and everything.

They, they do a great job, the Tar Heel Traveler. Mike Mason’s been doing that a long time. He has. And, uh, and, that was a really good story. I couldn’t get over how many people were there. I mean, like you couldn’t walk even when he was there.

Kylie Lee: That was on a weekday.

Jonathan Breeden: So that was a weekday.

Oh my goodness.

Kylie Lee: It wasn’t awake yet,

Jonathan Breeden: man. That was, that was something else. So

Have family law questions? Need guidance to navigate legal challenges? The compassionate team at Breeden Law Office is here to help. Visit us at www. breedenfirm. com for practical advice, resources, or to book a consultation. Remember, when life gets messy, you don’t have to face it alone.

Jonathan Breeden: so what are y’all doing to get back to the community? I know y’all, y’all do a lot of things. What are some of the things y’all do to help the community?

Kylie Lee: So one thing is,

Jonathan Breeden: you know,

Kylie Lee: serving on breakfast on Saturday mornings, um, we try to do a little fundraisers and we do, some [00:18:00] sponsorships, especially for the local people down towards Benson who are just a lot of the local rodeos and stuff like that.

sponsor them, get her name out there, you know, help her out a little bit.

Right.

Jonathan Breeden: And you also help the churches like by selling, Whole pigs at a reasonable price or donating some of those.

Kylie Lee: If

they’re doing,

Jonathan Breeden: you know,

Kylie Lee: a lot of churches around here do barbecue sales, chicken sales and stuff like that. We try to help them out a little bit on that.

Well,

Jonathan Breeden: that’s cool. So I know you’re in the food business, but what are some of your favorite restaurants? In the Johnston County area.

Kylie Lee: there’s one in Benson, Daddy D’s. Have you heard of that?

Jonathan Breeden: I have not heard of Daddy D’s

Kylie Lee: I think there’s one in Benson and there’s one in Fuquay. Okay.

Jonathan Breeden: Where’s it

at?

Kylie Lee: beside Chargrill right off of 95.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. I know where Chargrill is.

All right. What do they serve at Daddy D’s?

Kylie Lee: Barbecue.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. All right.

That’s good.

That’s good. I’ve never heard

of that one. But I love barbecue,

so

I’ll

definitely have to check that out. What are some of your other favorite restaurants?

Kylie Lee: Redneck Barbecue Lab is really good [00:19:00] also.

Jonathan Breeden: Yeah, Redneck

Barbecue Lab is very good. Uh, at exit 319,

19

Jonathan Breeden: 210 and I-40 can’t go wrong with that. And of course they have the, uh, You just call it the barbecue lab at North Hills now. And they’re also inside PNC Arena. If you happen to go to a Hurricanes or Wolfpack game or a concert, barbecue labs there, they do a great job.

and of course they have all their rubs and stuff. what are other restaurants that you like?

Kylie Lee: Most of the local ones are probably like the mom and Pop grills. Well,

Jonathan Breeden: that’s all right. What are those? I mean, I’m, I’m always looking

for places to eat.

Kylie Lee: If you watch the Tar Heel Travelers, Pat’s Grill and Grocery.

Okay. Um, they’re right in Benson T. Okay. They have good lunch. We like to run down there sometimes and grab us a burger. Okay.

Jonathan Breeden: All right.

Kylie Lee: Well,

Jonathan Breeden: that’s cool. That’s cool. Yeah. Well, I have to spend some more time, not spend a lot of time at Benson. In the last few years, they used to. And I, I used to go to court and Benson all the time.

Now, I, I have other attorneys, they go to court for me a lot, so I, I don’t get to go, but I used to enjoy going down there and going to court. And of course you had mule days and all [00:20:00] that other stuff. So, um, I know you, you were telling me before we got on here, that y’all run a big sale right before July 4th,

right?

Kylie Lee: Before July 4th, we take the whole week just to kind of give everybody a break before the winter time and all that hits. so right before the 4th of July, we do a buy one, get one free sale, all the tray packed fresh meat. Is about one, get one free. We’ll start it the day before we go out. If you want to know more about it, you can check out our Facebook page.

We’ll start posting about it and, um, on our website.

Jonathan Breeden: So it’s probably going to be around that last weekend in June, the 29th, 30th, sometime right around there, July 1st, this year is on a Monday. July 4th is on a Thursday. For those of y’all looking forward on your calendars, as far as ask concern, well, that, that sounds like a lot of fun.

so what are, some of the places in Johnston County you’d like to visit? We talked about like places like to eat. We’re always talking about the best place in Johnston County. What are some of the places? Activities you like to go or places you like to go in Johnston County.

So, well,

Kylie Lee: you’ve heard of Mule Days.

Oh, yes. And [00:21:00] we, that’s a yearly thing that we get excited about. We sell a lot of barbecue pigs for all the people traveling down towards there. Right. For that. other than that, I’m mostly at work a lot.

Jonathan Breeden: You’re mostly at work a

lot. I got you.

Kylie Lee: I got you. So, um,

Jonathan Breeden: Mule Days is always the third weekend in September.

It’s in Benson It’s a huge festival to celebrate the mule. It has a rodeo. It has carnival rides. It has one of the largest parades in North Carolina. It has, food trucks like you would see at the state fair It has live concerts and entertainment. and the animals, the mules and the horses get to walk in the streets on the streets are closed for several days there and Benson and, I would encourage anybody if you’ve not been, it is a cultural experience for sure.

I’ve enjoyed it every time I went, and the parade always has. I mean, the governor has been in that parade several times. Like it’s always, you want to see people that you wouldn’t always see. Go to the, go to the bits of great along with the [00:22:00] bands and, and the different animals and, of course the rodeo as well.

They always have a good time there. It’s done by the Benson Chamber of Commerce, Loretta Byrd which I try to have her on here, this podcast in the future. It’s a lot of fun. have you been to the Benson library? I know they’ve done a ton with that.

They have,

Kylie Lee: I’ve seen it. They’ve changed a lot about it.

So it’s not far from our place. I drive past it. Yeah. Well,

Jonathan Breeden: I don’t think

a lot of people realize. That that library is there and it is it is I don’t know anybody listen like it is as nice a library as any libraries you’ll go into

Kylie Lee: probably Yeah,

Jonathan Breeden: probably

and I don’t

think people realize and and the town of benson and Johnston county library association They really have done a good job And so I would encourage anybody particularly if you live towards benson or even if you’re at mcgee’s crossroads You know johnson county don’t have a lot of libraries that library of benson It’s as good as any library and they have loan services and get you not any book you

can and you know, we need more people reading and kids reading and stuff like [00:23:00] that. And of course we don’t have a library at 4042 here in Cleveland. And of course there’s not one in McGee’s, but it’s not that far to Benson. And if you’ve not checked out the Benson library, I would suggest that. Colleen likes, I like it.

I mean, it’s, they do a really nice job. What are some of the other things around Benson that people might not be aware of as we’re trying to spotlight Benson and Lee’s fresh market here?

well,

Kylie Lee: there’s a grill on the Hill That’s another grill. it’s a gas station slash grill. They have lunch every day.

Okay.

a lot. It’s a big stiple for a lot of the truck drivers. Easy to get into and stuff like that. It’s right off of 40. All right. so that’s another big deal. Serve great food though, but,

well,

Jonathan Breeden: that’s cool. That’s cool. Yeah. So the uh, and now I guess the town has some artwork. They put that. Is it a mule?

What is

it? It’s a mule, right?

Kylie Lee: It’s a

mule, right?

It’s a,

Jonathan Breeden: it’s a metalworked mule.

It is.

Kylie Lee: It is right when 50 and 27 split. So if you’re coming off of main street to come to our place, you’re going to drive past it.

Right.

Jonathan Breeden: And they’ve also put in a mural.

Kylie Lee: [00:24:00] They have,

Jonathan Breeden: right.

Kylie Lee: That is right.

on the side of main street, you’ll see it

Jonathan Breeden: if you’re going,

Kylie Lee: if you’re headed towards 95.

Right. So,

Jonathan Breeden: so anyway, so for those of y’all that have not been to Benson ever or not been to Benson in the last 10 years. You should go because there’s tons of great restaurants, Lee’s fresh market. There’s this library that is phenomenal. there’s also part of that library has a, as a, as a history museum, right beside it.

that’s pretty fascinating as well. about sort of how Benson came to be in the railroad and, the farming and the railroad coming together. And it really grew up around the railroad tracks. I find all this stuff fascinating. Maybe that makes me a little bit of a nerd. but Benson is a growing area of a lot of great small businesses, like Lee’s produce, fresh market and, maybe sell produce.

So I was going to say produce, but yeah, I mean, meats and stuff like that. So the last question we always ask here is. What do you love most about Johnston County You’ve been here your whole life. What do you love most about it?

Kylie Lee: I love that everybody makes you feel like [00:25:00] family. You’re so comfortable with your neighbors, with who you work with.

It’s just a big family organized community, basically. So you’re. Very well known with each other. If you need anything, everybody’s just one step away. You can just call anybody up in Johnston County basically and say, Hey, I need help. And they’re, they’re coming.

Jonathan Breeden: Yeah,

Kylie Lee: no, that’s,

Jonathan Breeden: that’s

exactly right.

Kylie Lee: And that’s right.

Jonathan Breeden: And almost everybody, you know, 6 or 7 months into this podcast. We ask that question to every single guest and every single guest says the people, the people is what makes Johnston County the best. I agree with that. All the guests have agreed with that. These are the best people. they’ll do anything for you.

They’re not pretentious like some people in other parts of the state, or other cities near ours. So anyway, uh, so, which is great. Well, cool. I appreciate it. so once again, what’s the phone number and where y’all at? So everybody can come find y’all.

Kylie Lee: 623 Benson Hardee road.

919 894-2587 And Lee’s leesFreshMarketNC.com Lee’s fresh market, nc. com.

Jonathan Breeden: All right, cool. [00:26:00] We’d like to thank Kylie Lee for coming on and being with us here today and talking about what they’re doing with the meat market and the slaughterhouse and the processing and all of her favorite places around Benson. I hope y’all found this, enjoyable and entertaining as I have.

as I love Benson is, is one of the sort of sleeping giants of Johnston County. If this is your first time listening to the best of Johnston County podcast, please do us a favor of liking or subscribing or following this podcast, wherever you’re seeing it on Apple podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or any of our social media channels, LinkedIn, TikTok, Instagram, so that you’ll be aware of future episodes of the best of Johnston County podcast.

The best of Johnston County podcast comes out every Monday, of every week, So always be checking back to see what new guests that we have coming on. Uh, if you, this is your first time listening, go back and listen to some of the previous episodes where we’ve had a lot of interesting guests, including.

County Commissioner Patrick Harris, Development Director Chris Johnson, County Commissioner Ted Godwin, County Parks and Rec Director [00:27:00] Adrian O’Neal We’ve also had other local small businesses, Dentist Tim Sims, Financial Advisor Chris Key. We had the Smithfield Selma Band Director Brian Jones talking about how you put a marching band together, as well as his Spartan Thunder Drum Corps.

We had Miss America’s Teen Hanley House. All of these people are fascinating. They’re all right here in Johnston County. They love Johnston County as much as I do, and I think you will enjoy listening to them. Also, if you would do us a favor of giving us a five star review down at the bottom, wherever you’re seeing this podcast, it will help with our visibility so more people will find out about the best of Johnston County podcasts.

Until next time, I’m your host, Jonathan Breeden.

That’s the end of today’s episode of Best of Johnston County, a show brought to you by the trusted team at Breeden Law Office. We thank you for joining us today and we look forward to sharing more interesting facets of this community next week. Every story, every viewpoint adds another thread to the rich tapestry of Johnston County.

If the legal [00:28:00] aspects highlighted raised some questions, help is just around the corner at www. breedenfirm. com.