Pigs have little to say about all the fuss, but festivals keep popping up all over in praise of the porcine (and largely involuntary) participants. The first one of note is immediate. La Pourcailhade (a.k.a. Fete de Cochon) is set for this Sunday August 12 in the tiny French Pyrenees town of Trie sur Baise, one of France’s premier pig-producing places.
Sure, there’s sausage eating and all of that. But what brings the tourists is the pig imitation contest. That’s where participants vie to imitate the sounds the animals make. Music, dancing and merry-making round out the eagerly-anticipated (except, perhaps, by the pigs themselves) event.
A third of world away, and a few months out, there’s the 29th Annual Barbeque Festival. The festival per se is set for Saturday October 27 in uptown Lexington, N.C.
A couple of weeks preceding the barbeque bash, on Saturday October 13, there’s a singular cycling event. It doesn’t quite match what just went on at the London Olympics, but the Tour de Pig draws hard-core bicycling devotees anyway for the 20K, 35K, 50K and 100K events.
In case you need a reason to rationalize all the barbeque you’ll consume the 27th there’s another sporting event on Saturday October 20. It’s the 5K Hawg Run, sponsored by the Carolina Cardiology Association. October 20 and 21 you can also take to the links (the golf links) for the Annual Barbeque Festival Golf Tournament at Lexington Golf Club.
As for the old adage “When Pigs Fly,” the festival has that covered too. Decidedly un-porcine pilots will conduct a fly-in October 27 at Davidson County Airport.
All of this culminates with entertainment and some of the best barbeque on earth on October 27.
Story by Jerry Chandler
(Image: pgall)
