BEGIN:VCALENDAR PRODID:NingEventWidget-v1 VERSION:2.0 METHOD:PUBLISH BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/Atikokan X-LIC-LOCATION:America/Atikokan BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST DTSTART:19700101T000000 END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT UID:3193290:Event:28781 DTSTAMP:20120530T023116Z SUMMARY:Pig Jig DESCRIPTION:BIG PIG JIG® was born in Vienna, Georgia when a group of self-professed gourmets made wagers on who among them could cook the m ost succulent pig! That year, 1982, those creative people recommended combining a barbecue cooking competition with an established and well- attended arts and crafts fair and the county's livestock association a nnual hog show. The merging of events has grown into a festival named twice by the American Bus Association as one of the Top 100 Events in America, three times acclaimed as one of the Top 20 Events in the Sout heast by the Southeast Tourism Society, and recognized by Georgia Fest ivals and Events Association and International Festivals and Events As sociation with more than a dozen awards, including Best Georgia Festiv al in 1999. BIG PIG JIG® was listed by Travel Agent magazine as one o f America's Top 500 Festivals, touted by Tom Clynes, author of WILD PL ANET! as one of the world's 1,001 Most Extraordinary Events, featured on the Food Network's \"All - American Festivals\" and a one-hour spec ial entitled \"The BIG PIG JIG®\". BIG PIG JIG® was also named to th e Discovery Travel Channel's top ten list of \"World's Best Barbecue C ontests\" for the past four years and in 2004 the National Barbecue Ne ws named BIG PIG JIG® the Spirit of Barbecue Event of the Year.\n\nTw enty teams competed, cooking whole hogs only, at BIG PIG JIG® in 1982 and $1,000 in prize money was awarded to the top seven contenders. ST UMP & SON, a team from Marietta, Georgia won the grand prize on their \"train\" grill.\n\nOnce the smoke cleared, the crafters packed and he aded home, and the hogs were \"gone to market,\" the community recogni zed it had a winning combination. The fall setting was ideal, so an Oc tober festival was born. A new site located on Interstate 75 near Geor gia Highway 215 in Vienna was purchased and developed for the ever-inc reasing number of participants. Expansion at the facility has been nec essary each year to accommodate the event's growth.\n\nThe success of the festival was demonstrated in 1991 when prize money was increased t o $10,000. The festival now has expanded activities to include a parad e, sidewalk art contest, crafts and collectibles, 5K Hog Jog, QuizFest academic scholarship competition, a scholarship golf tournament, loca l, regional, and national entertainment, plus a People's Choice contes t where visitors choose the best barbecue of the day!\n\nTwenty-two ye ars after the idea took shape, the contest drew 120 teams cooking over 400 entries of hogs, shoulders, ribs, plus kettles of Brunswick stew, barbecue sauce, and barbecued chicken. The event attracted over 20,00 0 spectators and required more than 300 judges, 300 volunteers, plus c ountless pounds of pork. In 2003 the Dooly County Chamber of Commerce awarded more than $12,000 in cash plus trophies to BIG PIG JIG's top c ooks and accommodated huge crowds of festival fun-seekers at the facil ity now known as BBQ CITY, U.S.A.\n\nMore than 25 events similar to BI G PIG JIG have appeared across the Southeast since 1982. Some remain; some do not. Often imitated but not yet duplicated, BIG PIG JIG® rema ins the southeast's largest and Georgia's oldest and OFFICIAL barbecue cooking contest.\n\nFor more information visit http://www.grill-share .com/events/pig-jig DTSTART;TZID=America/Atikokan:20101105T000000 DTEND;TZID=America/Atikokan:20101106T235900 CATEGORIES:competition LOCATION:BBQ City, USA WEBSITE:http://www.bigpigjig.com URL:http://www.bigpigjig.com CONTACT: ORGANIZER: ATTACH;FMTTYPE="image/jpeg": ATTENDEE;ROLE=REQ-PARTICIPANT;PARTSTAT=ACCEPTED;RSVP=TRUE;CN=Grill-Sha re:http://www.grill-share.com/profile/GrillersIndex END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR