February 27, Day 247 - In Marathon

After a leisurely cup of coffee and briefly working on a few chores this morning we headed out for “National Pig Day”. National Pig Day is one of the lesser known holidays, but seems to be celebrated in many towns across the U.S.A. Here in Marathon a restaurant, aptly named The Stuffed Pig, sponsors 3 days of activities. Included in the activities are pig races. Having never been to a pig race we were quite fascinated with how this really worked. We discovered it was pretty much like a horse race where you could bet on your favorite. “Favorite” here was more or less determined by which name you liked the best. Among the names were clever monikers such as Britney Spareribs, Christina Hoguilera, Hamma Montana and Clay Aiken-Bacon. There were 3 heats (races) and you could bet a minimum of $2 on each heat. Gerry and I each bet $6 ($2 on each race). The money collected from the pig races serves as the main fund raiser for the Grace Jones Community Center which is a non-profit daycare for special needs children. Gerry’s pig pick won the first race; Linda’s picks did not win. Gerry returned his winnings to the day care, as did most winners. So that you can share in the day's festivities, we've included a couple of clips of the races.

We had lunch and a couple of drinks after the pig race and then started back to the boat as there was a threat of rain. Later in the day it did rain some with strong winds out of the south, then it cleared up and the winds changed to the north.

Here is the race track for the pigs

The pigs in the second heat were the very fast experienced pigs

The "hefty" group ran last ..... er well, maybe run is too strong a word. Check out the video clip for these speedsters.

This was one huge pig .... over 300 lbs.



Click here to see pigs in the 1st heat. Gerry's pick was the winner.

... and click here to see the suprise finish of the 3rd heat