Great Arkansas Pig Out 2009 in Morrilton Hog wild

21st annual Pig Out promises food, family fun

By Elizabeth Sharp

LITTLE ROCK — What started as a local gathering to boost community spirit has become one of the state's biggest, most anticipated and yes, dirtiest, annual events.

The 21st annual Great Arkansas Pig Out in Morrilton on Friday and Saturday at Morrilton City Park will have the same music, entertainment, food and family fun that's attracted more than 30,000 visitors in the past.

Chairwoman Kristi Strain of Hattieville has been attending Great Arkansas Pig Out since its inception. Strain said the festival's first organizers sought to promote the city of Morrilton and Conway County, something that was important to the area's then-struggling community. In 1985, textile plant Crompton Mills closed its doors and laid off 1,100 employees.

"We were trying to build morale in the community and have people come out and build fellowship and have something positive for the community," Strain said.

Strain said the first festival in 1988 was somewhat primitive - "It was pretty much just local entertainment on a flatbed trailer," she explained - but it's definitely evolved over the years.

"Now we've had huge acts like Billy Dean, Restless Heart, Aaron Tippin and Jerry Reed," she said.

Pig Out holds one unusual distinction, too. In 1998, country comedian Jerry Clower was supposed to perform but had to cancel because of illness. Hedied soon thereafter.

"We were the first performance that he ever had to cancel, and I think it was the only one he ever had to cancel in his career," Strain said.

The number of food vendors - offering such items as hamburgers, barbecue, onion blossoms and chicken-, shrimp-, corndogs- and gator-on-a-stick - has increased, and sports enthusiasts can participate in the sanctioned bike race, a 5K run and tennis and volleyball tournaments.

New this year is the 1k Family Fun Run. It was supposed to be held last year, but it was rained out, Strain said.

"It's just to promote health and wellness in our community and provide something else forthe kids," she said. "We're all about kids."

Even if the 1K run doesn't appeal to every youngster, kidswill find plenty to do at Pig Out. Pony rides, a bubble pond, a 3-D dinosaur puzzle, bungee jumping, bull riding and a climbing wall are just some of Pig Out's kid-friendly activities.

But year after year, Strain said the crowd favorite is the big Pig Chase, which involves greasing up pigs donated from Southern Christian Home in Morrilton, soaking the local baseball field and letting both pigs and kids loose for a rowdy roll in the mud. Kids who catch a pig have won bicycles and cash prizes in the past, Strain said.

"It's fun," she added. "You're out there, and the [Morrilton Fire Department's] big Snorkel truck is spraying the field down, and the kids are all out there in their swimsuits.

"People think they're going to hurt the pigs, but they can't hang on to them," she added, laughing.

- esharp@ arkansasonline.com

River Valley Ozark, Pages 146 on 06/21/2009