Pig Fest

It would be fantastic if the advertising for this event wasnt reduced to word of mouth after it went on; this marks the third year I’ve missed it since I heard about it; again, after it went on.
…and I’ve lived in Lakeland my entire life.
Newspaper advertising is dead (if that’s what they’re using outside of word of mouth). There’s social media; and it’s basically free; it would behoove the organizers to get with the times.

Let me first state that my competition BBQ team vended and competed here this year. There are two sides to this venue. The Friday evening portion consists of the younger, more drunk, redneck, rowdy crowd. If you’re looking for a place with shoulder to shoulder non-​sober people, you’ve come to the right place on a Friday night. The venue opened at 5 on Friday and went until 10pm.
Saturday afternoon seemed to consist of the family/​more mature/​older crowd. The venue opened at 10 am and closed at 5 pm when the BBQ awards were being announced. On both days there is plenty of food and a vast variety. Our team sold pulled pork, brisket sandwiches and our signature pork belly sliders. We sold out in 3 hours on Friday and 4 hours on Saturday.
There is plenty of entertainment throughout the venue. Some teams come out just to entertain and set up extremely impressive hospitality areas. Some complain the food is overpriced, but some of the proceeds go to Lakeland charities (our team also donates over half our proceeds to a St. Pete-​based charity).
Parking can be sporty if you arrive a couple of hours into the event. This place gets a star taken away due to the unorganized manner in which the BBQ awards were handled. The awards were 35 minutes late and took about 45 minutes — absolutely ridiculous.
Overall this is a great venue if you are tired of Gasparilla and want to avoid city traffic.

We’ve gone to the Pig Fest two years in a row now. We liked it so much last year that I put it on my calendar about four months in advance so we wouldn’t forget about it.
This event is no more pricier than any other festival we’ve been to. We brought about $ 200 for our family of four adults. With that said, we taste tested many different vendors and shared pretty much everything we bought and we were stuffed. We also bought THREE nice full size racks of ribs to take home from our favorite vendor, just like last year!
Free samples and promotional items are great! Many of the vendors will sample their products and if not most offer $ 1.00 meat shooters. The promotional giveaways are pretty sweet! I’ve never been to any festival that gives out full size samples of their products such as Snickers, M&M, and some sort of sparkling teas and juice. We’re talking 17 OZ drinks, for free… Bayer reps were giving away sample packs of Bayer, Aleve, Alka Seltzer, etc.
They have a beer garden and drink vendors throughout. Fairly reasonable and market competitive pricing. There is a band. It’s definitely more of an adult party on Friday night vs Saturday being more family oriented.
There’s a kids area as well. I can’t comment on this because we don’t have little ones.
Forgot to mention it’s free to enter so your also free to leave without losing a penny! You more than likely will WANT to stay because the food is cooked by BBQ experts and it’s damn good!
For the folks that think this event is too costly, it really isn’t. It’s extremely affordable. AND let me leave you with this… CHARITY! Yes, the event is sponsored by businesses such as Publix. The vendors are required to use ‘Pig Bucks’ that customers buy from the get-​go, dollar for dollar. At the end they turn in their pig bucks and are paid a percentage of those funds. Then a portion of the money goes to charitable organizations! Win-​win!
IF you’ve complained, you should’ve grabbed a snickers (free btw) because I’m sure, ‘You’re not you when you’re hungry!” :)
Our family will go every year for as long as we live in Florida!

overpriced food, area not well lite. parking is a pain. crowded, a lot of unorganized sellers. that created long lines for customers and stopped the flow of the crowd. vendor signs for food too small and place in wrong areas of/​and around the booths. needs more entertainment ie music or something for people to enjoy while they eat. (time: 6 pm — 8:30 pm)

Held annually the last weekend in January, this BBQ Foodie Festival is a pork lover’s delight. It runs Friday nite and all day Saturday with over 300 amateur and professionally competing BBQ teams in the Kansas City Barbecue sanctioned event. Most of the competing grillers are also vendors and one can move from booth to booth exploring the top tasty inventions of each group. Samples run $ 1, pork sandwiches $ 5, ribs $ 2 each, platters $ 8. Beverages range from tea for $ 1 to Beer $ 4. Entertainment is provided on two stages. There’s a «Kids Q» competition Saturday morning (starting age 9) and a Kiddie Bungee/​Bouncy section. The event and parking have been free for 16 years. (Parking is crazy, not for the faint of heart.) You gotta love the names of the teams: Kick Yo Butt, Eat No Swine Befo Its Time, Rub Me Tender, Bite Me. You trade your cash in for Pig Bucks to use throughout the venue. There are big name sponsors like Kingsford, Publix, Coke, Konica and Budweiser. The grillin’ smells wafting through the air were killer.
Back to the food. This is a great place to learn if you like it wet or dry, pulled or on the bone, with or without sauce. Many make their own sauce varieties, fun to try in themselves. I enjoyed a perfectly grilled cob of corn at the «Aw Shucks» booth ($ 3) and had some great southern tea at another. The Swamp Boys had a wonderful «wet» pulled pork. Good Buddies, the «Hog Whisperers» also had great flavor. A pork roll (take on an egg roll, $ 4) was delicious with a hint of onions and moist pork deep fried in an egg roll skin. The Swinos were serving Redneck Salad, a layer of French fries piled with a layer of pork, a layer of melted cheese ($ 7). There were pork tacos, deep fried Twinkies, funnel cakes, dill pickles, pork nachos, and many homemade pies and cobblers. A local beekeeper was selling honey, one booth sold children’s books on the cheap. I found the amateur cooks every bit as delicious as the pros and found little difference between those with dozens of trophies and those with smaller grill operations. Everyone was having fun, There were ample places to sit and people watch.
My best tip is to arrive early (10 am) for a good parking spot and no lines. The lots were full by 11:30 a.m. and the crowds were thick. It is a great local fest with an opportunity to taste world class well-​flavored pork dishes. Hog Heaven!!! Prices are always subject to change but they were very reasonable for the times. This is a charity fund raiser for the local Junior League & Girls, Inc groups. Put it on your calendar for 2013!