The highlight of Ballyjamesduff's social diary is the annual Pork Festival in June, which celebrates the pig, its commercial value to the town and greasy Ulster fries.
It was started in 1994, but was halted temporarily from 2002 in protest of America going to war in Iraq.
It has been announced that when the war is over, the festival will return.
Highlights of the festival included:
- Kosher Kraziness: An eating contest where people must eat as much kosher food as they can without getting sick.
- The Pig Run: Similar to the Bull Run of Spain, only with Pigs. Amazingly, the casualty rate is quite low, with only about 10 people being trampled to death annually.
- The Hogwash: People compete in a pig-washing race.
- The Swine & Cheese party: One of the more cultural events of the festival. People are invited to taste test various pork and cheese products.
- Grills Gone Wild: A joint pig and pig-farmer beauty pageant.
- The Olympigs: A day of track and field events for farmers and their pigs. The main event of the Olympigs is the 10-legged race,where a contestant must race with a pig attached to each leg.
- The Speaking in Pig Latin Debate Competition: Contestants must speak as long as they can with every word in pig latin. The current record is 9 hours 12 minutes,held by local teacher, Barney Mulvey.
While the festival has been postponed, a Rainbow Culture Festival has been started. It retains the partying and drinking competitions of the original Pork festival, but also has new attractions such as the parading of the Gay man, or the Hair-cutting challenge.
In this challenge, people are given an electric shaver and must cut the hair of anyone they see. The last person left with hair is declared the winner.
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