RIDGEWAY – The first weekend in November means one thing in Ridgeway: the Pig is back. Friday night’s “No Pigs allowed” runs from 6 – 10:30 p.m. with activities for kids, craft sales, a street party with DJ Doug Pauley, and delicious and different non-pork cuisine for sale.
Saturday kicks off with the BBQ judging contest at 9 a.m. and the fun lasts until 1 p.m. There will be more of Friday plus a Classic/Antique Car Display, hog-calling contest and a cruise-by with Town Councilman Don Prioleau entertaining as he introduces and comments on the vehicles.
With sunny skies and a slight fall chill, it should be the perfect weekend for shopping at vendor booths or at the stocked-for-Christmas shops along Palmer Street.
The Pig on the Ridge is manned by Ridgeway volunteers who give hours of their time throughout the year to make the festival enjoyable for the thousands barbecue lovers and shoppers who attend every year.
“We’ll have a new, younger steering committee running the festival this year,” Rufus Jones one of the original four steering committee members said. “We’ll be here to help,” he said of the members of the former steering committee, but they are all experienced and with pit master Tony Crout heading up the barbecue cookers, it’s going to be lots of fun with plenty of good food and shopping,” Jones said.
Every year the steering committee holds a dinner prior to the festival for the volunteers. This year it was held at Purity Lodge and guests were catered by Doko Smoke barbecue.
POTR Volunteer Dinner
RIDGEWAY – About 50 volunteers who make the Pig on the Ridge happen gathered at the Purity Lodge in Ridgeway for dinner, visiting and getting ready for the big weekend starting Friday Nov. 5, and lasting through about 1 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 6.
From left are the new steering committee: Deb Truesdale, Mack Miles, Belva Bush Belton, Tony Crout and Tony Jones; and the outgoing POTR steering committee, from left: Henry Dixon, Don Prioleau, Rufus Jones and Gloria Keeffe.
Below, the buffet barbecue dinner catered by Doko Smoke. At right, Larry Weldon, the train man who delivers the barbecue dinners to the train engineer during the festival when the train rolls through town.
