Pigfest Lakeland, Florida — Local services in Lakeland

Just like the name itself, Pigfest is truly one of a kind! In case you couldn’t guess, this festival is ALL about some good barbecue. So if you’re even a remote fan of that, you’d better check this out- but it only comes around once a year so you have to be ready.

I just cannot believe how big this festival is. It’s held at Sun ‘n Fun and between all the vendors and the huge parking spanse, it takes up some serious space. But it’s worth it to walk down each avenue of vendors and see what’s going on.

We were fortunate to know one of the companies that was there for the competition- yes, there are barbecue businesses there just to submit all of their cooking to judges in an attempt to win a podium place, and they take it extremely seriously.

It’s $5 to get into the event- from there, they ask you to trade actually money for “Pig Bucks”, and every vendor takes pig bucks to them buy food. It’s interesting, but at the end of the day all the money is donated to charity so that’s pretty amazing.

But even beyond the pig bucks you can get literally a whole pack of free things. Free wine, free bug spray, free barbecue sauce, free medicine/ allergy pill packs, free bloody mary and rib samples, free ice cream and I’m sure a lot more that I can’t remember. I literally left with a bag full of things.

And let me tell you, nothing I tried was bad. I’d really recommend the Jerk Bowl stand, finding a brisket egg roll or nachos, and of course mac n cheese. We also tried gator on a stick that I quite enjoyed. This is a super cool event that’s been going on literally for decades in Lakeland, so I was so happy to...

I went because a friend was competing and told me about it. I had family in town, and we went not knowing what to expect. It was absolutely amazing. I had never been to an event where there were tens of thousands of people of all age groups enjoying themselves, and the aromas all around you were perfect. Everything was great, and I'm definitely going next year. There was live music and every food and drink type available, and transportation available to and from your car if you wanted it. My friend and his team came in 8th overall in the competition. First, it would have been what...

Lots of great BBQ to choose from and live music to enjoy. Some offer samples of what they have as well. You do have to exchange your cash for "pig bucks" as the vendors only take that but there are multiple booths to do the currency exchange. The parking is a little bit of a walk from the site but they do have golf cart shuttles for those needing assistance. There's a fun kids area with inflatables and a couple small rides. This also has a separate "pig buck" admission for the wristbands.

Lots of bathrooms and Porta potties around and a few large picnic...