CADIZ, Ky. (WTVF) — One thing about this area. We have some great festivals. A big one is coming up in southern Kentucky this weekend. A new tradition has just arrived to help us welcome it.
So, this is a story about pigs. Downtown Cadiz, Kentucky has a lot of them. They're pig statues. From purple to polka dots, a lot of these downtown ones are the work of Gail Cannon.
"I never thought I'd be the pig painter," Gail laughed. "It is great fun!"
"This one is Uncle Ham!" she said, pointing to a pig statue dressed in patriotic colors, a hat, and a beard.
Just off the interstate, there's someone new in town. She is Big Pig, and she's not your average 10-foot pig statue.
"She has all kinds of scenes of Trigg County," said Beth Sumner of the Cadiz Trigg County Tourist Commission. "There's Land Between the Lakes. Her tail is made out of a stalk of corn."
Beth said they've gotten 1,300 online suggestions for a name for Big Pig. Locals had some thoughts.
"Bar-B-Cutie is my number one!" said one woman.
"Oink Oink and Piggy Piggy," Mayor Todd King suggested.
"I liked Triggy Piggy too," Gail said.
"We had Miss Barbie-Q. Hamantha. Miss Triggy," Beth listed.
Getting a name for Big Pig has some important timing to it.
"We are getting ready for our Country Ham Festival this weekend," Beth explained.
"It's Ham Fest. If you're not eating ham, you're doin' it wrong!" said a local woman.
The festival's big. The mayor tells me it brings 30,000 to 50,000 people downtown every year.
Big Pig will welcome them all. Some pig. After deliberations of a committee, 1,300 name suggestions have come down to one.
"We have Miss Cadi, the Cadiz Pig," Beth said.
"That'll let people know how to pronounce this town!" Gail laughed.
There's that. Also, Mallory Lawrence of the Persnickety Pig gift shop said the name Cadi carries a deeper meaning.
"Katie Broadbent was the proprietor here for 32 years," she said. "Her family was responsible for this development Broadbent Square."
As the city prepares for its big event, Miss Cadi's playing her role. She's the first someone the thousands will see as they come off the interstate. That'll do, pig. That'll do.
Do you have a positive, good news story? You can email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.
For people of my generation, in our younger days we spent part of our weekends watching music shows like American Bandstand and Soul Train. That was before the age of music videos. Several years before Soul Train was syndicated out of Chicago, another syndicated R&B show was taped in Nashville at NewsChannel 5. Night Train aired in the 60s and included what may have been the first TV appearance for legendary guitarist Jimi Hendrix. Forrest Sanders has another great look back at station history.
-Lelan Statom
