EATON — The Pork Festival Board of Directors has been hard at work planning and preparing for the 49th Annual Pork Festival, to be held Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 21-22.
As always, the festival will be located at the Preble County Fairgrounds in Eaton. Thousands of pork and craft-seeking visitors from across the country flock to the annual event each year.
Activities on tap this year include:
• The “Spoon Man” at various times during the weekend, in the Kid Zone.
• Higher Vision in the Entertainment Tent at 3 p.m. on Saturday and the Richard Lynch Band at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
• An “escape room” experience promoted by the Preble County Farm Bureau.
•Zach Neil performing periodically both Saturday and Sunday.
Festival-goers can as always watch the famous racing pigs and more.
There will be agriculture community groups with displays from around Preble County, as well as colleges and institutions with exhibits displaying what they have to offer. The kiddie tractor pull is set for Sunday.
The featured food venue, called the “Chop Stop” is back for the third year, in lieu of the smorgasbord of old. The Chop Stop will include a meal which can be enjoyed at the festival or taken home. The meal will consist of one pork chop, potato wedges, applesauce, roll, pie and a drink for $8 or for $10, two pork chops, potato wedges, applesauce, roll, pie and a drink.
“The Chop Stop is more feasible, family-friendly option for festival-goers to partake in,” officials said last year.
Love the festival sausage? According to festival directors, shoppers can still get fried sausage a la carte at the Chop Stop or at the Pop-N-Chop.
The festival will once again be featuring Short Order for a la carte dining, including the famous pies families love to eat.
The parade will begin at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, Sep. 21. The parade features many local high school bands and begins at the Barron St. & Decatur St. intersection and ends at the grandstands at the fairgrounds.
It takes an entire community to host the two-day Pork Festival, and would not be possible without the 1,500 volunteers, organizations and businesses who donate time, material and services. All proceeds from the Pork Festival are given back to Preble County – a total investment of over $2,000,000 — according to the festival committee.
Sponsors and businesses who provided goods and services for 2019 include: Corporate sponsor, Rumpke Waste & Recycling; Gold sponsor, Freedom 1st Credit Union; Silver sponsors, Garber Electric, Timken Steel, Reid Hospital, Catron’s Glass, Brubaker Grain and Creech Farms – Beck’s Seed; Bronze sponsors, Carter Cleaning Enterprises and Henning Farms, and honorable mention sponsors Bane Welker Equipment, D & D RV, City of Eaton, Community Christian Church, Harvest Land Co-op, LCNB National Bank, Lowman Heating & Air, Preble County Agricultural Society, Quaker Trace Tractor, Remagen, The Rodeo Shop, Tractor Supply Company, Union County Co-op and Walnut Harvest Auctions.
The Pork Festival has free admission, free parking and free entertainment. Visit the website porkfestival.org or check out the special insert in this edition of The Register-Herald for the full schedule.
