The restaraunts showed up all of em showed up for Troy. I enjoyed myself went to work with a full stomach. Kant lie though, Bucchus wood fire pizzeria had the best wings out last year 2023 pigg out. The funny part is I didn't notice the restaurant. At the time I was new toTroy. Me and my fiance at the time saw everybody licking fingers read more

After missing it for a couple of years, my wife and I came back and I was a bit underwhelmed. It used to be focused on the barbeque rib competition, with a festival thrown alongside to sweeten the pot. Now, it seems to be more of a food truck festival with free music, and the barbeque competition has fallen by the wayside. Whereas once you could walk through the competition area and meet the competitors, stand amazed in awe of their three-foot tall golden trophies from culinary conquests of the past, and smell the ribs from a block or two away, now the competition has all but disappeared. Also, it has morphed from a 2-day event to a 1-day event. The food trucks now are about 20% barbeque themed, with the regular fried sausage, popcorn, fried dough, pizza, etc mixed in. The craft vendors seem to be fewer in number and mostly related to jewelry (boring). The free music is still a "you get what you pay for" proposition: the first band we heard was country/blues cover band and I thought they were decent. The next band we heard was an indie-pop band and their lead singer was terribly off key. After about an hour of being there, we had eaten some food, listened to some music, and had no real reason to stay. It was hot (it always is) despite the slight rain that came and went. It is a shell of what it once was. A fun time can still be had here, but instead of calling it the "Pig Out" they should just call it a "River Festival." read more

Just got back from this event and let me tell you, it smelled SO good. With that being said, there weren't as many BBQ stands as I thought there would be. I counted maybe 6-8? But there were a ton of other vendors there (lemonade, beer, cookies, pizza) so you couldn't walk away hungry. There was a band with brass instruments and it was way too loud for the crowd that was there. read more

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Wow. Some undeserved Pig Out hate in a few of these. Here's my take - First of all, a sincere thank you goes out to the Troy BID for having fun and family friendly events throughout the summer - Pig Out is no exception. I was able to enjoy the festivities both early and late - both were great! Around lunch time I took my first jaunt through for a $2 sample tasting of the B-rads roasted pig and stood in the ridiculous (but well worth it!) Capital Q line for spare ribs Memphis style and croquettes. Those guys know what they are doing! The food was delicious and I was even offered a sample as I wandered around looking confused on my first lap - no wonder they got my business! My meal was accompanied by the refreshing Saranac blueberry blonde ale - which I'd never had before and will totally have again! I ate, drank and was merry with friends while we listened to the bands play. When the sun (and my lack of sunscreen) got go be too much, we parted ways. Around 7 we reconvened to find out who won the competitions and hear the headlining act before the fireworks. One thing I want... I want to know where the "Meat Mafia" came from and where I can try their stuff! They practicality ran away with every winning category! Overall, the event is enjoyable and attracts folks from all over the Capital District bringing good will and good fun to Troy. Come chill and Enjoy Troy! read more

Troy Pig Out - From Capital Q - Memphis style short ribs & croquettes with a Saranac blueberry beer. Yum! #PigOut2015 - Festivals Near Me - Troy, New York

Yikes! I was there and forgot to check in. Seems like there are two ways to play this festival. Number one is to go early in the day and combine it with a trip to the Troy farmers market. Get some early music... not a lot of crowds... buy barbecue from the food trucks and stands that are there including Capital Q and Slidin' Dirty. Number two way is to come later, stand in a very long line, and buy tickets for the rib tasting of meat actually prepared for the judging. If you do that you can vote in the People's Choice Award and listen to the more well known acts after dark and if you're still standing even see fireworks at 9:30. 4 stars because it's a well-organized festival, on a beautiful day in Troy, and truly fulfills its mission which is to pig out. read more

I'm fond of laid-back food festivals, but the dual timed nature of the food lines (see Otis' review) has to be tweaked a little. I also think more activities for the kids would be helpful for those of us so-encumbered. And, as ever, logistics in and out are a slight pain. Still very welcome, and a big thumbs up for the additional vendors (by allowing offsite cooking) for extra choices this year. Another suggestion: while I enjoy the musical acts, maybe having some buskers and smaller, less amplified music scattered around the grounds would be more entertaining and add to the festival air -- it's not a rock festival, it's a food festival. We'll be back, though! We heart Troy. read more

Whoever organizes the peoples choice part of the pigout (saturday) ought to be fired, tarred and feathered and strung up in town square. This is the absolute worst organized event I have EVER attended. The lines are ridiculous. There has to be a better way. The city of Troy gives each BBQ competitor their ribs for free (Troys tax payers probably paid for them?!). This year (2014) they gave away 8300 individual ribs and had 8000 $1 tickets to sell. They didn't sell all the tickets but at least 80% of the BBQ competitors ran out of ribs within a few minutes of the 5pm start time. How'd that happen?!!! There were only a couple honest competitors that still had ribs hours after the 5pm start time. Evidently, some of the competitors were cooking & SELLING the free ribs during the day long event and then when the peoples choice competition started at 5pm, the greedy competitors only had a few ribs left to enter the contest! ALL THE RIBS THEY WERE GIVEN WERE SUPPOSED TO BE FOR THE PEOPLES CHOICE CONTEST. NOT FOR SALE EARLIER IN THE DAY. The organizers didn't foresee this? They couldn't have implemented a few rules to make sure this didn't happen? It would have been easy to demand a $2 deposit on EACH rib that each competitor was GIVEN. Then, when the competition was over, each booth could trade their $1 tickets toward getting their deposit back. If a booth is given 500 ribs they pay $1000 deposit. Then at the end they can trade each ticket they received, for $2 back of their deposit. If they don't cook & give away all 500 ribs then they should give them back to the organizer to recieve the remainder of their $1000 deposit. It's real easy to monitor and make sure there's no theft like there was this year. The competitors who sold their free ribs throughout the day and only had a few left over for the peoples choice SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF THEMSELVES! And not allowed back. read more

Always a good time, love the addition of Bacon Fest this year. Typical fest, high prices for OK food. A nice day outside though. read more

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So much fun! I got here early and enjoyed the lack of people quite a bit. I have an aversion to large crowds, so this was nice. Got to scope out who was selling and who was only cooking before it got crowded. I spent some time taking to the competitors on how they prepare for an event like this, and even got to see part of the competition process. Some even broke off ribs and let me try them mid cook. Tell you what - I do it just as good if not better than some of these folks. Saw one team using refined sugar in a sauce for competition ribs. I cringed of course. :-) I'm quite sure I could do well in this competition if I tried it. Overall, this is lots of fun and I recommend everybody try it at least once! read more