Tourism Bureau reviews results of the first summer festival – Pigs & Swigs
 

[July 03, 2015]  LINCOLN - The first annual Lincoln’s Pigs & Swigs Festival took place on June 5-7 in downtown Lincoln. The festival was comprised of the Up in Smoke on the Square barbeque competition, the Young Professionals Network craft beer event, the Oasis Senior center craft fair/flea market, the Railsplitter Antique Auto Club car show, and the Logan County Farm Bureau’s Taste of Logan County.

With any new event, hurdles are guaranteed to arise. However, blustery winds and rain showers were not enough to prevent the first annual Lincoln’s Pigs & Swigs Festival from being a success. The Young Professionals Network craft beer event hosted over 500 guests throughout the weekend and even sold out of wristbands on Saturday evening.

Michelle Bauer, a member of city council and the Young Professional Network, said “As we begin to establish ourselves, the Young Professionals Network, wanted to provide an experience that was a little different, entertaining and profitable. The Craft Beer Event allowed us to support BBQ, raise money for the new Land of Lincoln CEO program and get people together for a good time. We are very proud of our first attempt and look forward to an even better event next June.” This portion of the Lincoln’s Pigs & Swigs Festival offered activities such as the homebrew competition, live entertainment, and craft beer tastings.

Sunday morning’s thunder storms impacted the auto show, but Leroy Ranthum, an active member of the Railsplitter Antique Auto Club, stated that the number of first time participants was much higher than any of the cruise in’s or car shows that the club has hosted recently.

According to Dom Dalpoas, the Oasis Senior Center Executive Director, the craft fair surpassed their goal of having 40 venders in Scully Park and completed the weekend with 60. Additionally, the Oasis Senior Center, having chosen to partner with the Lincoln’s Pigs & Swigs Festival, now reaps the benefits of receiving 100% of the vendor fees which allows this community driven organization to obtain a larger profit.

However, their vendors did not have such a great first-year event, with many of the vendors in the craft fair/flea market seeing lower than expected sales. Dalpoas said that the Oasis will have to work out a plan to build up the clientele to support 60 to 80 vendors in one weekend.

The Up in Smoke on the Square BBQ contest hosted more than 50 teams; all of whom were competing for the second highest paying purse in the state.

 

The first-time Kids Que barbeque competition was also successful with over ten teams ages ranging between ages 7 and 15. The Oasis was happy to have the addition of Kids Que in Scully Park during their craft fair/flea market; Dalpoas felt that event was a nice addition to what the Oasis was offering.

The organizers of the event met early last week to wrap up the event and discuss things that can be improved upon.

Potential changes for 2016 include, entertainment stage being relocated to give more space and better viewing for craft brew event, potentially not having the event on Sunday since everyone’s numbers were so low on Sunday this year, and adding the car show on Saturday.

Discussions were had about more BBQ food options for guests of the event and even finding a way for guests to taste some competitor’s food. According to Chris Graue, “Forcing the competitors to give out samples or even making them cook that amount of extra food while trying to win a competition could prohibit some of them from attending the event in the future.” Graue was confident that their committee could come up with an agreeable solution for guests and competitors alike.

One festival attendee stated “We live in Mount Olive. We very much enjoyed the festival. There were plenty of different beer samples to try. The music was very good.” She also said that she would more than likely attend the event again in the future.

Tourism Director, Maggie McMurtrey stated that “For the first year, we were able to bring a large amount of tourists and locals who appeared to enjoy the opportunities offered through this event. They also seemed excited for the upcoming events this summer.”

A feedback survey can be found HERE or by going to www.lincolnillinois.com  under Lincoln’s Pigs & Swigs Festival page.
 

[Maggie McMurtrey, Logan County tourism Bureau]