Bob & Brad’s Amazing Annual Pig Roast
The past 3 years we have hosted Bob & Brad’s Annual Pig Roast. And let me tell you, it gets bigger and better every year! These guys are definitely amazing with their skills and I think they should go pro! I’m happy to say we send many home with delicious leftovers and the guys reap the kudos for quite some time afterward.
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Here’s a little back story on how the Annual Pig Roasts came to be.
It was an idea they came up with a few years back while we were working on the backyard. This is what it looked like when we moved in 6 years ago. No doubt we had the room for their vision! And over the years we have hosted many bonfires, other impromptu gatherings and a wedding out back. So we knew it could be done.
Before the Pig Roasts
Here’s what we started with. See? Lots of room and lots of room for improvement! Boy, I remember those first Fall days in our new home like it was yesterday. I loved poking around out there and exploring the yard’s personality.
Our first summer here my husband and son created one of the coolest bonfire spots I’ve ever seen. The view was great and the grass was getting greener! That spot would eventually become Brad Pit.
“Brad Pit”
The guys began the talk of roasting pigs and we knew this area was destined to be THE gathering spot for Bob & Brad’s Annual Pig Roast and all future shindigs. “Brad Pit”, a name coined by our nephew, was custom built. It included the original Harley pipes from our motorcycle as smoke stacks and a Colorado license plate with it’s moniker. We also had pallets and pallets of pavers just begging to be used. So Brad hauled them out from behind the barn and set up some string lines. Then I got to work building the “partio”. I laid every paver by hand except for the last two which I saved for my husband. This was a fun project that was done in a day and a half.
Two and a half years ago we had the amazing pleasure of installing a new septic system. It was so stinkin’ fun!
Can you smell my sarcasm?
This required a complete scraping of most of the yard and it gave us the perfect opportunity to complete backyard layout. We had an underground sprinkler system installed (front & back), concrete curbs poured and sod laid.
This picture is from this summer. What a difference a couple of years makes! This was the morning of the 2020 Pig Roast before the wildfire smoke rolled in. See that huge pergola? Check out how the two of us built that this summer.
Pig Roast Time
Ok, back to the Pig Roast!
Bob has sponsored the same wonderful local family, owners of Pig Pen Pork Company, the past 3 years. We are so, so grateful for their amazing care of raising and showing the animals. And for selling delicious farm to table pork! Local is where it’s at folks. Support your local farmers and ranchers every time you can!
Pig Roast 2018
After many, many pig pow-wow’s over whiskey, Bob and Brad knew from the beginning the pigs needed to be butterflied so they would fit in the pit. They built this table to meet their dimension criteria. And Bob created his legendary mop sauce.
Here is a last check and mop before putting him to bed for the night.
And I decorated! I always love wrapping the silverware to match the theme of the party. The past two years I have done
Lighting, in my opinion, makes an outdoor party go from fun to fabulous! I like to use uplighting for all the trees and plants in the planters and bistro lights to create a warm and inviting atmosphere. Strung over some of the bistro lights are these paper lanterns both in red, gingham and white.
I snapped this picture right before everyone showed up. My mom made the most delicious coleslaw and there was enough for everyone! And all of our friends and family brought a side dish to share. We had about 80 people that first year.
Pig Roast 2019
Pig Roast 2020
Well, we all know by now that 2020 has been a real doozy!! This year’s Pig Roast did not disappoint with the 100* heat Friday and Saturday, to apocalyptic wildfire smoke and ash on Sunday to….snow on Monday!
The air quality was awful this year but I really love this picture. It is the first Pig Roast where I can see our backyard vision has become reality. Brad Pit is centered in the “partio”, the trees are getting bigger, the pergola gives this area new meaning and the amazing sign given by a friend just makes this area legit.
The set up this year wasn’t as done up or decorated as I like. We honestly didn’t know how many people would come due to the danger of the fires being so close and the smoke in the air. Here you can actually see the plume just sitting there like rain clouds!
I snapped a picture of the table inside the tent as I was decorating. See all the ash? I always use
This year the pig was done roasting early so our nephews jumped in and started shredding. We didn’t get the pretty dressed up pig with the blanket of kale picture this year but the meat was perfectly cooked!
We had a pretty good turn out after all! I’d say about 50-60 of our friends and family came. We ate, we drank, some enjoyed the water slide and others had some pretty competitive corn hole games going on.
I love that my son and daughter still like to hang out together (on the couch below). This truly makes my momma heart happy! But look at my zoomed in picture of my grandson’s face. He is completely enjoying his pork sandwich! Is that not the epitome of childhood happiness? Oh my goodness, I could just kiss his face off his face 😘
This picture is by far my favorite of our 2020 Pig Roast! To me it represents a beautiful American summer evening. Bon fires, food, family, friends and the sweet innocent abandonment of childhood.
And then this happened the next day…
Can you believe it? All I could do was shake my head, put on some warmer clothes, a movie and enjoy Pig Roast leftovers! And begin planning for Bob & Brad’s Annual Pig Roast next year.