Tommy Moore is working on a riddle, and it goes something like this: What weighs at least 1,000 pounds and will be cooked in an oven that's moved by a forklift?

The answer: The world's largest open-faced barbecue sandwich, to be prepared in New Bern almost exactly a year from now.

Moore, the proprietor of New Bern's best-known barbecue joint, hopes to draw a crowd to Union Point Park on July 4, 2010, to unveil, weigh, and then serve the sandwich that would appear in the Guinness Book of World Records. He has timed his venture to coincide with New Bern's yearlong 300th-anniversary celebration.

"Show up here on July 4, 2010, and we'll feed you," he says. "Eat a piece of history."

Moore's sandwich, complete with coleslaw fixings, will be served up free to at least 300 people in honor of the city's birthday, he said Thursday when he revealed that the park would be the site of the record-breaking event.

His family's restaurant, Moore's Barbecue, has been a New Bern landmark for nearly 64 years, and is a favorite spot for locals, celebrities and politicians alike.

Just last fall, Moore fed former President Bill Clinton when he was in New Bern to campaign for his presidential-hopeful wife, Hillary.

So why would Moore bother with a record-breaking sandwich?

"You know, I might have had a brain lapse," he said. "This thing is a lot of work."

He has already hired a friend, engineer Bill Norris, to help him design and build the oven. He has named his "sergeant at arms," Zoot Saunders, whose sole job is to guard the sandwich. He has assigned a 20-person crew to help him bake the bread, and assemble and move the sandwich.

And just this week, Moore has made three "bread prototypes" so he can experiment with proportions, seasonings and scale.

"You know, it's already kept me awake at night a couple of times," he said. "I think it'll take most of the year to really get it right. I'm really hoping that it'll bring a buzz to New Bern."

Moore won't reveal the exact dimensions of the sandwich, but Nelson McDaniel, the chairman of the city's anniversary committee, likes to say that it's "bigger than a breadbox and smaller than the New Bern Riverfront Convention Center."

"This endeavor makes sense as a part of the city's celebration, because barbecue is part of our history and our heritage," McDaniel said. "It's part of the South. And people associate New Bern with Moore's Barbecue. They feel like they haven't made a trip here unless they've had some."

Nikie Mayo can be reached at (252) 635-5665 or nmayo@freedomenc.com.