Tipton County Pork Festival

If you ever wondered what John Mellencamp was talking about when he wrote «Small Town», take a ride up to Tipton, Indiana for the Tipton County Pork Festival. I never really experienced small town America like this, so it was super interesting, fun, and I had a great time. The festival takes place in the middle of town on the streets surrounding the courthouse — park at the high school and walk or you can ride the tractor up to the the fair. Pork, obviously is the star of the show here — the requisite pork tenderloin sandwich is served at no less than 5 different food booths — look for the trailer with ET — the tenderloins are out of this world. I’m not kidding! There’s also all the other typical festival fried food there, but that is about it, so anyone looking for healthy choices is going to be sorely disappointed.
This year we were treated to the musical stylings of Lee Greenwood, Jr. — when he finally played «Proud to be an American» I think the entire Pork Fest stood still, whipped out their lighters and cell phones and raised them high above their heads in a loving tribute to the USA.
Other highlights included a booth offering free prayers, a puppet show with a creepy grandpa puppet — with a message!, scary carnival rides and a midway with creepy carnies, an arts and crafts marketplace– where you can pick up your Last Supper tapestry wall hanging and a bedazzled t shirt, and of course, the pork tent — chops or sandwich and 2 sides for 7 bucks — if you are big on the pig, this is the place for you, there’s more porcine goodness you can shake a stick at.
I wish I we would have been there to see the Miss Pork Festival pageant to see who was crowned the Pork Queen!