Kevin and Dana Peterson check the progress of their pig after flipping it in the wee hours of Saturday morning. Photo by Catherine Hardee / Neuse News

For one night of the year, Herritage Street in Kinston is one of the best-smelling places on earth. Nearly 100 cook teams spent Friday night slow-cooking their entries for the 38th Annual Wil King Hog Happenin’.

The teams are a diverse lot. Some of the cooks have spent decades perfecting their craft, while this year’s competition featured chief cook Harrison Morgan, who is still in elementary school. At the center of it all, of course, are the pigs.

For the husband and wife team of Kevin and Dana Peterson, of Showtime’s Legit BBQ out of Benson, the most stressful part of the competition is the flurry of activity that is required when the teams first get their hogs. Friday at 8:30 p.m., they were anxiously waiting to get started, because they knew they would be one of the first to be judged Saturday morning, and they needed to start cooking.

When it came about an hour later, the Petersons leapt into action.

“We put baking soda on the skin to soak up the moisture and cut down on the sliminess, and then rinse it off with boiling water to clean it up,” Dana Peterson said.

Once that initial prep work was done, Kevin Peterson and neighboring competitor Kevin Wooten got the pig onto the cooker. The next step, Dana Peterson said, was to put oil and salt onto the skin to make it crispy. With the prep done, the Petersons turned on the grill and settled down to wait.

Aside from the initial rush to get the cooking started, most of the night is just about waiting for the pig to slowly cook, checking on it at intervals. Neighboring teams congregate for late night hot dogs and a chat. For some of the backyard teams, the atmosphere is that of a tailgate party, complete with music, drinks and games.

For professional or backyard cookers, for many the night is about friends. A few minutes after midnight, Paul Gainey, David Hoffman and Lee Hoffman sat in their tent, enjoying each other’s company.

“This is what it’s about — listening to music and talking to friends,” Gainey said.

For Wooten and the Petersons, both part of the “Best of the Best” group of former champions, being in competition against each other didn’t stop them from helping each other wrestle their hogs into place on their cookers. Peterson and Wooten got their start in competitions at the same cookoff four years ago.

Dana Peterson said she and her husband spend nearly every weekend cooking at competitions all over the state, and she said it’s something they really enjoy doing together. Kevin Peterson won the state championship in 2017, and while they did not place in this year’s Hog Happenin’, they will be back next year to enjoy the unique atmosphere of the Festival on the Neuse.

First place in the competition went to relative newcomer Jason Williams, of Creekside BBQ, in only his fourth cookoff. He said he was very surprised to hear his name called as the winner.

“You never really know, it’s kind of a tossup,” he said.

One thing he was sure of, though, was that he would be back next year to defend his title.

The teams that come back year after year are what make Kinston’s Festival on the Neuse so special, and the atmosphere of fun and fellowship ensures that more teams enter every year. First time Backyard competitor Douglas Reynolds from Greenville said that was what made him enter only his second competition.

“We heard this was a fun event,” he said.