AS FALL APPROACHES, I AM STILL DRAWN TO THE FUN DAYS OF OUR “WHOLE HOG BBQ AND MUSIC FESTIVAL” HELD IN BRADFORD AND NORTH HAVERHILL
Bernie Marvin
August 21, 2025
Back in the old days between the years of 2005 and 2010, the Cohase Chamber of Commerce Directors were on the cusp of near success when they conjured up a double whammy event that grabbed the intense interest of area BBQ chefs and good local music aficionados. It came to be known as the Whole Hog BBQ and Music Festival.
The program consisted of BBQ and music, with professional prize-winning cooking teams from the deep south (and locally, as well) being here at the Bradford Memorial Field or later, the North Haverhill Fair Grounds BBQing their pigs that were judged for goodness, technique, cleanliness and taste by a team of nationally certified and trained judges, many of them local. Oh, what fun we had!
The “Whole Hog BBQ and Music Festival” was produced and enjoyed here over a special weekend during a multi-year period that were operated by the chamber’s board members and friends who loved to cook and who loved to savor ribs, shoulder, whole hog and just plain sliced BBQ’d pork drenched in special sauces, created on site at either the Bradford Memorial Field for several years, then during later years, over at the North Haverhill Fairgrounds in North Haverhill. It was all very delicious, aromatic, and yummy.
The local event included by far the best prepped BBQ’d pork in New England, plus the fun of some great music presented by local song groups who wowed crowds for the early fall BBQ festivals. Readers, do you remember the Nobby Reed Project, Dr. Burma, or the Odell Walker Band? They were all here with their incredible sounds, wowing the crowds.
The cooking events were all sanctioned by the Memphis Barbecue Network (MBN), which sanctioned all their cooking events throughout the nation, and even the ones held way up here, well out of Dixieland. Yes, each year, a team from the MBN would be dispatched from Tennessee to oversee the entire BBQ program and the strict certifying program they carried with them.
Several of us locals were certified and were then sanctioned to travel all over the USA to judge professional BBQ events. As I told my friends during those delicious years, “It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it.”
The fun of it all was to see the local backyard cookers enter the contest along with the professionals who also entered. The prize money was rich; sometimes a winning team could walk away with $2,000 or more. And sure enough, some of those prize dollars did go to local teams who participated.
Our program also provided a middle-of-the-road threshold that local BBQ amateurs could enter and have their products judged by MBN experts. This provided them with real tips on how to create some mighty fine BBQ products, the kind you see on those TV competitions.
Several of the national winners were here participating in our competition, as they were always looking for new places to come and knock the locals socks off with their tremendously succulent slow-cooked, smoked pork creations that defied description as to just how a human cook team could produce food so scrumptious, so gorgeous and win their team some cool cash, as well.
One year, the nation’s top professional BBQ contestant and sure-fire winner of every contest he ever entered, Myron Mixon, owner and top chef of Jack’s Old South BBQ Team, was crowned the day’s Grand Champion for the whole event held at the North Haverhill Fairgrounds. He added his winning trophy to the 1400 trophies he had won from previous contests. Myron, whom I and other local judges had the privilege to judge, came up here from Mississippi.
In his special stage area, where he presented a BBQ technical session, he sold his special flavorings and mixes, as well as his books.
He was a busy guy while in our midst. He and his staff stayed up all night babysitting his ribs, whole hog and shoulders, then made a full presentation to the judging effort, but had enough energy left to make the drive back to Mississippi.
During these events, there were food and craft vendors, a raffle, a Miss Piggie contest, people's choice sampling and voting, and a lot more. As I recall, the eighth year the Whole Hog had been produced by the Cohase Regional Chamber of Commerce. Each year it grew, and for that contest about 1,000 people attended.
For the final year, we agreed that the numbers were not there to sustain another show, so we reluctantly ended the program. The southern folks who came here thought it was a delightful event, noting that if it were in Alabama, Virginia, Mississippi, or Louisiana, it would have been a tremendous success.
They were impressed with the staff, the venue, and the people who lined up early to get in and enjoy the program. But to sustain the momentum, it needed full-time staff and a total commitment that we were not prepared to make, given our day jobs and numerous other responsibilities to our families and commitments.
The program consisted of BBQ and music, with professional prize-winning cooking teams from the deep south (and locally, as well) being here at the Bradford Memorial Field or later, the North Haverhill Fair Grounds BBQing their pigs that were judged for goodness, technique, cleanliness and taste by a team of nationally certified and trained judges, many of them local. Oh, what fun we had!
The “Whole Hog BBQ and Music Festival” was produced and enjoyed here over a special weekend during a multi-year period that were operated by the chamber’s board members and friends who loved to cook and who loved to savor ribs, shoulder, whole hog and just plain sliced BBQ’d pork drenched in special sauces, created on site at either the Bradford Memorial Field for several years, then during later years, over at the North Haverhill Fairgrounds in North Haverhill. It was all very delicious, aromatic, and yummy.
The local event included by far the best prepped BBQ’d pork in New England, plus the fun of some great music presented by local song groups who wowed crowds for the early fall BBQ festivals. Readers, do you remember the Nobby Reed Project, Dr. Burma, or the Odell Walker Band? They were all here with their incredible sounds, wowing the crowds.
The cooking events were all sanctioned by the Memphis Barbecue Network (MBN), which sanctioned all their cooking events throughout the nation, and even the ones held way up here, well out of Dixieland. Yes, each year, a team from the MBN would be dispatched from Tennessee to oversee the entire BBQ program and the strict certifying program they carried with them.
Several of us locals were certified and were then sanctioned to travel all over the USA to judge professional BBQ events. As I told my friends during those delicious years, “It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it.”
The fun of it all was to see the local backyard cookers enter the contest along with the professionals who also entered. The prize money was rich; sometimes a winning team could walk away with $2,000 or more. And sure enough, some of those prize dollars did go to local teams who participated.
Our program also provided a middle-of-the-road threshold that local BBQ amateurs could enter and have their products judged by MBN experts. This provided them with real tips on how to create some mighty fine BBQ products, the kind you see on those TV competitions.
Several of the national winners were here participating in our competition, as they were always looking for new places to come and knock the locals socks off with their tremendously succulent slow-cooked, smoked pork creations that defied description as to just how a human cook team could produce food so scrumptious, so gorgeous and win their team some cool cash, as well.
One year, the nation’s top professional BBQ contestant and sure-fire winner of every contest he ever entered, Myron Mixon, owner and top chef of Jack’s Old South BBQ Team, was crowned the day’s Grand Champion for the whole event held at the North Haverhill Fairgrounds. He added his winning trophy to the 1400 trophies he had won from previous contests. Myron, whom I and other local judges had the privilege to judge, came up here from Mississippi.
In his special stage area, where he presented a BBQ technical session, he sold his special flavorings and mixes, as well as his books.
He was a busy guy while in our midst. He and his staff stayed up all night babysitting his ribs, whole hog and shoulders, then made a full presentation to the judging effort, but had enough energy left to make the drive back to Mississippi.
During these events, there were food and craft vendors, a raffle, a Miss Piggie contest, people's choice sampling and voting, and a lot more. As I recall, the eighth year the Whole Hog had been produced by the Cohase Regional Chamber of Commerce. Each year it grew, and for that contest about 1,000 people attended.
For the final year, we agreed that the numbers were not there to sustain another show, so we reluctantly ended the program. The southern folks who came here thought it was a delightful event, noting that if it were in Alabama, Virginia, Mississippi, or Louisiana, it would have been a tremendous success.
They were impressed with the staff, the venue, and the people who lined up early to get in and enjoy the program. But to sustain the momentum, it needed full-time staff and a total commitment that we were not prepared to make, given our day jobs and numerous other responsibilities to our families and commitments.
A whole BBQ’d hog is about to come off the cookers and be carved and served out, first to judging experts, then to hungry patrons who had come to attend a Whole Hog BBQ and Music Festival, held for several years at the Bradford Memorial Field, then the North Haverhill Fairgrounds. The Bridge Weekly file/Bernie Marvin
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