In 2020, Hendersonville's parks staff had a problem that had nothing to do with barbecue. Christmas 4 Kids needed help during the pandemic, so the city teamed up with Holiday Fest and Live Love Nashville to put something together. Parks Director Andy Gilley told the Hendersonville Standard that "Pig Fest was started out of necessity" to make sure the group "saved Christmas 4 Kids during the pandemic of 2020."
Six years on, that stopgap is what Gilley calls "one of the largest BBQ Festivals in Tennessee, and one of the only city-managed special events in the State of Tennessee that raises so much money for tremendous causes." It returns October 22 through 24 at Veterans Park. The smoke and the pig races are the part you see. Underneath them, the festival works as a Christmas fundraiser that happens to run in October, and the park that hosts it stays busy for more than a week afterward.
Where the money goes
This year's proceeds go to three local causes: Mary's Magical Place, Grace Place Ministries and Christmas 4 Kids. HolidayFest of Sumner County is the city's partner on the event, and HolidayFest President Larry Phillips told the Standard that helping those groups "while putting on a tremendous event for our community is a win for everyone."
Last year's event raised $74,000 for local charities and schools. For a festival that began as a pandemic workaround, a five-figure total also explains why it hasn't gone away. The Tennessee Recreation and Parks Association named it "Special Event of the Year" in 2022, two years after the first one.
Local businesses carry much of the cost. The Standard reports more than 90 community sponsors this year. Gilley credits Pitmaster Sponsor Kenny Burd and his companies, TN Pool Supply and EXS Group, with bringing many of them in, saying he had "never seen one man devote an entire year to making a charity event so special." Gary Force Acura is the presenting sponsor for 2026, and Gilley noted that "local festivals like this don't often get corporate help like this."
Three days, three different ways to give
Each night of Pig Fest raises money a different way. Thursday is a dinner, an auction and a wrestling show. Friday is a ticketed concert. Saturday is free and depends on the cook teams and the crowd.
| Day | What's happening | Times listed | Admission |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday, Oct. 22 | Steak dinner, auction, Jeff Jarrett's All Star Super Slam | Festival gates 4:00 p.m., steak dinner 5:30 p.m., auction 6:00 p.m., wrestling gates 5:30 p.m. | Wrestling sold as a separate ticket |
| Friday, Oct. 23 | Pig Fest Kick Off Concert and Hendersonville Hometown Jam, headlined by Diamond Rio | Gates 5:00 p.m., main stage 6:00 p.m., park closes 11:00 p.m. | Ticket required |
| Saturday, Oct. 24 | BBQ competition, pig races, Kids Zone, pickleball tournament | All day | Free to the public |
On the main Eventbrite listing, general admission is $20 and children under 12 get in free. The wrestling show has a separate listing with prices starting at $17.85, but it doesn't show the full tier breakdown. The two listings also give different start times for Thursday. The festival schedule puts the opening bell at 7:00 p.m., and the standalone wrestling listing says 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Arriving by 7:00 covers both. The official Pig Fest website notes the lineup is subject to change, so check it again closer to the weekend.
A lineup booked from Hendersonville
Most of the performers on that schedule live in Hendersonville, and organizers built the lineup that way on purpose.
Thursday belongs to Jeff Jarrett, a Professional Wrestling Hall of Famer marking 40 years in the business. The Standard notes this is only his second appearance in his hometown, and the first was at last year's Pig Fest. Gilley called having him "a bucket list thing," adding that "his family means a lot to our city."
Friday's headliner is Diamond Rio, and Gilley pointed out that several members of the band and crew "have called Hendersonville home for a long time." The rest of the bill is local too: Jesse Keith Whitley, Tim Watson, Eric Blakenship, DJ Cliffy D and newcomer Julianna Rankin, all part of a special edition of the Hendersonville Hometown Jam powered by Raised Rowdy. "We worked hard this year to get a true Hendersonville lineup," Gilley told the Standard. "These folks perform all over the place but call our city home. This is what the Hometown Jam was made for."
Friday's ticket money goes to the same three charities as the rest of the weekend, so the hometown concert is one more piece of the Christmas fundraiser.
Saturday is the free part
Saturday is the main event and doesn't cost anything to get in. More than 50 BBQ cook teams compete in five categories for $10,000 in prize money. Gilley says the competition has "gained now national attention," with teams coming from across the Southeast, and he credits the cooks with supporting it "year after year" even though all of the proceeds go to charity.
Here's what else is on the grounds Saturday, according to the Standard:
- Live pig races, which Gilley calls "a huge hit every year"
- Vendor booths and food trucks
- A Kids Zone with bounce houses
- A cornhole tournament and a par-3 contest
- College football on the big screen all day
- An art contest for students in Sumner County Schools
New courts, first tournament
Dinkville is hosting a pickleball tournament on Saturday, which the Standard calls "the first tournament to be played on the city's new pickleball courts." Dinkville is a Nashville pickleball operation. Its Dinkville Under Broad venue at 1001 Broadway has five courts and mini-golf.
The courts are at Veterans Park. Hendersonville Parks' online status board has an entry for a "Veterans Park- Pickleball Complex." As of October 11 it read "Closed" and was marked disabled. The city hasn't published an opening date, a court count or a cost that turned up in our research. For now, the clearest public date tied to the complex is the Pig Fest tournament on October 24. If you've been waiting to play there, keep an eye on that same Hendersonville Parks status page.
That means the new complex gets its first public use during the charity weekend.
The park stays busy after the smoke clears
Once the cook teams pack up, Veterans Park doesn't empty out. The City of Hendersonville's October calendar lists a Fall Carnival there every day from Sunday, October 25, through Friday, October 30. Add Pig Fest and the park, at 140 Scotch Street, hosts something on nine straight days, from October 22 through October 30.
The rest of late October happens at Hendersonville's other parks, and it overlaps at the end of the week:
- October 25–30: Fall Carnival at Veterans Park, listed as all day.
- October 29–31: World Bass Pro Fishing Tournament at Sanders Ferry Park.
- October 30, 6:00–8:00 p.m.: Trick or Treat at Drakes Creek Park Athletic Complex.
Friday, October 30, is the busiest day. The carnival is wrapping up at Veterans Park, the bass tournament is underway at Sanders Ferry and costumed kids are at Drakes Creek, all on the same evening. If your household has both a trick-or-treater and an angler, that Friday will need some planning.
Ten days from now, the first cook teams will be setting up smokers on Scotch Street. The Pig Fest site has tickets for Thursday and Friday. Saturday only requires showing up, ideally with a few dollars for the vendors, because that spending supports the same three charities.
At Christian Wilson, we follow the hometown stages as closely as the market. Christian spent 20 years as a singer-songwriter before he became an agent, and a Friday lineup made up entirely of people who live here is the kind of Middle Tennessee we like to represent. If you live near Veterans Park and want to know what your home is worth right now, start with an Instant Home Valuation. We'll walk through the numbers with you any time, whether or not it's Pig Fest week.
