Jiggy with the Piggy comes to an end

Published 12:08 am Wednesday, January 29, 2025

By Elisabeth Strillacci

elisabeth.strillacci@salisburypost.com

 

KANNAPOLIS  — In a request at Monday night’s city council meeting, Deputy City Manager Eddie Smith, who was the initiator of the annual Jiggy with the Piggy barbecue festival, announced the city has decided to bring the event to an end.

The 2024 Jiggy with the Piggy was the last.

Smith was one of the generators of a massive barbecue festival that kicked off in 2013, telling the council, according to Mayor Darrell Hinant, “we’re going to have the biggest barbecue festival in the world.”

At the meeting, Smith asked the council to return money set aside for this year’s festival to the city’s accounts in a contingency line item, so it will be available for future plans.

“We have to remember, it wasn’t always Jiggy,” said Smith. “In 2013, Jiggy became the fifth iteration of the original CottonStock festival, which was designed to celebrate our rich industrial and textile history. But we have determined it has served its purpose and it is time to close the chapter. This is not an end. It’s an opportunity to take advantage of the growth and the businesses downtown that we did not have 12 years ago.”

The original intent for the Jiggy with the Piggy Festival was to attract visitors to the city’s downtown as the Downtown Revitalization Project began to emerge. Not only was the goal to provide a celebratory event for residents, but to get visitors into downtown to see what the city was doing and the opportunities becoming available.

As council member Ryan Dayvault noted, “when we first started the festival, we had nothing downtown. But it’s a very different place now.” And he added that the costs to run the event have skyrocketed.

“This was a big decision, because the community has come to know Jiggy and to associate it with the city, but it’s OK to begin to think about other options that are more in line with our businesses, who want to be more involved,” said Smith. He noted that Downtown Kannapolis Inc., known as DKI, has become a strong organization that wants to partner with the city in marketing and in planning a next event or events.

The city leaders indicated that while it may be some time, if ever, until the city again hosts another large-scale event such as Jiggy, they are working with DKI, the Cannon Ballers and other businesses to discuss and plan smaller events throughout the year as well as to begin to look at other areas that need revitalization.

In the past, as many as 70 teams came to participate in the barbecue competition for prize money, and attendees would purchase tickets to sample each team’s effort and vote for the People’s Choice Award. There was also a kids’ area with games, prizes and performances and arts and crafts vendors.

Fireworks always drew the event to a close, but there were several years when the festival was rained out, and over time, its popularity has diminished.

“I know the joy it brought to so many people, and I hope somehow we can bring that back,” said council member Tom Kincaid.

Council member Jeanne Dixon asked Smith if there will be a time for the public to have input on future plans.

“The short answer is yes,” said Smith, who said he was coming to the council now to ask them to revert the funds “because January is when we usually get together and begin to talk about plans. But listen, I’m getting far too much credit for this.” He said both city staff and volunteers deserve as much of the appreciation and recognition.

“I commend you for doing it as long as you have,” said council member Doug Wilson, “and I appreciate your professionalism in being willing to step up and say it’s time.”
“I applaud all you have done,” said council member Darrell Jackson, “but it is time to move on. We need to consider that we have close to 50 different businesses downtown, so we need to complement and enhance their businesses.”
“I know it’s what needs to happen, but I also know this was my wife’s favorite weekend in Kannapolis,” Dayvault said. “The atmosphere, the high energy, no other event can replicate that.”
“I’m not going to cry,” said Smith. “It’s just time.”