The place to be on the second Saturday in April is at the Pig Cookin’ Contest at Spencer Penn Centre! For the 7thAnnual Pig Cookin’ Contest, an even larger crowd is expected, topping the 1,400-1,700 in previous years, from all over Virginia and North Carolina.
The Pig Cookin’ Contest is the only BBQ competition in the area that is sanctioned by the North Carolina Pork Association. The winners will use their points to qualify for the annual N.C. Barbeque Championship.
Cookers will receive their pigs at 9:00pm Friday night after being recognized at Music Night and then the secret work begins. Each competitor has his or her own secret spices and method of cooking but all using gas heat. After cooking all night, hopefully without any catching fire, the pigs and area are prettied up and waiting for the judges to arrive at 9:00am.
The three judges are sanctioned by the NC Pork Association and have strict rules on how to judge the meat and presentation. As soon as the judges leave a cooker’s tent, the cooker immediately begins stripping the meat and chopping it to take to the kitchen for processing and selling to the public.
Trophy and monetary awards are presented at 11:00am: first prize- $500; second prize-$300, third $200, and a blind taste test $100
Food sales begin at 11:00 in the Alumni Hall.
Handicap parking spaces will be available in the lower parking area (between SP and the Ruritan building).
Menu: Eat in or carry out Plates/sides, sandwiches, BBQ by the pound, homemade desserts, 11am until?
