Hillsborough ‘Hog Day’ kicks off on Friday

Leah Cook samples Jeff Whitney's Lexington style barbecue, which was cooked slowly over a hardwood fire all night. It's sauce was made with vinegar, ketchup, salt, pepper and other spices. They were competing for People's Choice Award. "It's my first time here and it's awesome. It smells like the fair," Cook said.

The smell of about 3,500 pounds of smoking pork will fill the air in River Park in Hillsborough this weekend.

Hog Day, a widely-attended local barbecue festival organized by the Hillsborough/Orange County Chamber of Commerce, will kick off Friday at 6 p.m. The festival will run from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. on Saturday.

Hog Day will feature live music, a beer garden, an antique car show and several kids’ activities.

Margaret Cannell, executive director of the chamber, said the family friendly atmosphere is one of the reasons for the event’s popularity.

She said Hog Day is a great way to eat good barbecue and spend time with family.

Thirty teams are expected to work through the night Friday to smoke the thousands of pounds of meat that is expected to be sold on Saturday.

Each team will also send a plate of its pork and barbecue sauce to a judges’ tent, to compete for cash prizes and a trophy.

“The cookers come in, they cook their meat overnight, chop it up and sauce a small portion,” Cannell said. “And the judges select five contenders.”

Judges will announce the winners of the competition Saturday morning. First place winners will receive $500, Cannell said.

David Burch, owner of Smokey Dave’s BBQ and winner of last year’s People’s Choice award for best barbecue, said he regretted not being able to compete this year.

“The notoriety I’ve gotten from Hog Day has been tremendous,” he said. “It’s kept me so busy I can’t keep up with it.”

Erik Myers, owner of Mystery Brewing Company, said he was hoping to increase the popularity of his brewery through Hog Day.

“It’s a really good opportunity for us,” he said. “Lets us get in front of a lot of people who may not be the craft beer crowd.”

The brewery, which opened in February and is located in Hillsborough, will be selling four of its own brews in the beer garden, in addition to a new beer made specially for the festival.

“It’s a really light, easy drinking kolsch-style beer that’s basically for everyone who’s going,” Myers said.

A Mayan, end of the world theme will help celebrate the 30th anniversary of the festival,

“The 30th year is traditionally the pearl anniversary, but we couldn’t really come up with anything clever to do with a pearl,” Cannell said.

“We know this is going to be the best Hog Day ever, but who knows if it will be the last Hog Day ever,” she said.

Admission to Hog Day is free.

Contact the City Editor at city@dailytarheel.com.

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