The Pig Cookin’ in Newport is a competition of 60+ cooks all trying to cook a perfect pig and use their secret sauce hoping to be judged # 1. There is food, free entertainment, crafts, rides, and fun for the whole family.
A whole hog is cooked on a large grill, usually with propane gas, however, wood or charcoal can be used but propane is the fuel of choice.
“Whole Hog” is what it indicates, a whole pig, split down the middle (without head and feet) and placed on the cooker. Newport has always cooked “whole hogs” whereas some contests use whole hogs and pork shoulders. After research, it has been determined that Newport is the largest “Whole Hog Cooking Contest in the USA“.
The cooks get their hogs Friday evening after the Chief Cooks meeting at 7:00 pm and it is up to them and their strategy as to when they start cooking. The judging will begin at 8:00 Saturday morning. The judges go to each tent site and have a list to follow as to what they are looking for in a cooked pig. They mark their score sheets and all are tallied and the winners are announced around 1:00 pm on Saturday.
After a pig is judged, it is taken to the chopping tent and workers there prepare it for the barbecue plates that start selling Sat. at 11:00 am. The plates consist of chopped pork with our own barbecue sauce, eastern style, hushpuppies, baked beans, and coleslaw. We have 2 serving lines and a drive-through on the main street to keep the process moving quickly.
Anyone interested in cooking in the contest needs to fill out a cooks entry form, found on this website, and submit it to our VP for Cooks and Sponsors.
The prize monies are:
- 1st place $1000 and Trophy
- 2nd place $500 and Trophy
- 3rd place $400 and Trophy
- 4th place $300 and Trophy
- 5th place $200 and Trophy
- 6th place $150 and Trophy
- 7th place $125 and Trophy
- 8th place $100 and Trophy
- 9th place $75 and Trophy
- 10th place $50 and Trophy
To enter as a cook’s sponsor, you need to fill out a sponsor entry form, submit it also to our VP along with a $150.00 fee to cover the cost of the pig
Pig sponsor forms are available on this site, if you would like to help us out by sponsoring a pig, fill out a form and mail it in. If you know someone that would like to cook great, if not we will provide a cook for you.
We are always seeking Corporate Sponsors for our contest and we have a number of monetary levels. All sponsors will be listed on our website, our brochures, and signage on stage at our event. If you are interested in becoming a corporate sponsor please contact our VP for Sponsorships found on our Contact page.
The charities that are helped by our contest are all non-profit organizations. To apply as an organization, you need to submit a grant application form by mail by Nov.1st of the year before the contest for consideration for the next year’s contest. You can pick them up at the Newport Town Hall, they are usually there sometime in August. Organizations applying must submit a detailed explanation of how much they need and how it will be used, it is then considered by the Board of Directors and voted on by the general membership. They are notified in Dec. as to whether or not they have been accepted and they must then agree to attend all the pig cooking meetings, help the days of the contest and sell barbecue tickets prior to the contest.
To volunteer your help, come to a Pig Cookin’ meeting and sign up. The meetings are held every third Wed. of the month at 6:00 pm at the Pig Cookin’ building behind the Newport Town Hall. The only months that we do not meet are Aug. and Dec. We are always looking for volunteers to help put on a successful contest. It takes a lot of dedicated people working together to make this happen.
