Pig Out at the 29th Annual Lakeland Pigfest BBQ Festival at SUN ‘n FUN Expo Campus in Lakeland

Prepare for a weekend of good eatin’, good friends, and good tunes to benefit Lakeland-area charities.

Lakeland PigFest is back with this year's event happening on Friday, Janaury 23 from 5 pm - 10 pm, and Saturday, January, 27, from 10 am - 5 pm at the SUN ‘n FUN Expo Campus in Lakeland.

This popular event is Central Florida's largest barbecue competition and admission is only $5, with free parking.

Through the continued support of the local community, the event has been able to donate over one million dollars of unrestricted funds to local charities since its humble beginnings in 1997.

Join over 150 competition barbecue teams for a weekend of good eatin’, good friends, and good tunes to benefit Lakeland-area charities at the 29th Annual Lakeland Pigfest!

Admission to Lakeland Pigfest 2024 is just $5 and kids 12 years and younger can enter for free.

The good eatin’ won’t cost you much and is well worth the value. Stop by a Pig Bucks booth (located near the entrance and various locations throughout) and exchange your cash for Pig Bucks, the official currency of the Lakeland Pigfest. By purchasing food from competition teams, you are supporting their efforts and local charities.

Entertainment at this year's event includes Outlaw Saints on Friday, January 23, with Madam Radd and Katnip taking to the stage on Sunday.

The seeds for the Lakeland Pigfest were first planted in 1994 when a small group of local businessmen, vacationing in North Carolina, attended a Kansas City Barbecue Society (KCBS) sanctioned barbeque championship in Tryon, North Carolina.

As interest grew in the community, then Governor Lawton Chiles signed a request for the formal sanctioning of the Lakeland Pigfest as a Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS) State Championship on November 19,1996. Finally, a date was set to bring a barbeque championship to Lakeland, and on March 21, 1997 the Lakeland Pigfest was born.

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