Pig Racing delighted young and old alike at this year’s Bob Evans Farm Festival in Rio Grande, Ohio.

For the past fifty-four years, the Bob Evans Farm Festival has brought crowds to the historic Evans farmstead in Rio Grande, Ohio. This year’s festival was held last weekend, October 10 – 12, and drew crowds from Ohio, West Virginia, and Kentucky.

The Bob Evans Farm Festival features demonstrations of traditional trades such as blacksmithing and sorghum milling, apple butter making, and rug making. There was a large petting zoo with various farm animals, as well as highland cattle and longhorn cattle exhibits. Visitors could eat at the restaurant at the farmstead, or choose from the many food vendors which were set up at the festival. There was also a carnival with a ferris wheel and other rides, a hay bale maze, horse drawn wagon rides, and other fun family events.

Entertainment at the festival included the acrobatic dogs of High Performance Canines; the log rolling skills of the Great Lakes Timber Show; All American Pig Racing; the Reno Family Horseshoe Pitchers; and Taps in Motion Cloggers. Each day featured various musical acts, including Appalachian Hollow, The Last Hurrah, Jake Hoot, Ty Gregory, Spencer Hatcher, Tigirlily Gold, Wonpeace, Johnny Staats and the Delivery Boys, Alex Miller, and the Gospel Harmony Boys.

Bob Evans, the founder of the famous restaurant chain, purchased the farmstead in 1951, where he raised hogs to make sausage. In 1962, he opened a restaurant on the farm, which was called the Sausage Shop. This would later become the first Bob Evans restaurant, with a second soon opening in Chillicothe, Ohio.

The Bob Evans farmstead has a long history. At one time, the large brick house on the property served as a stagecoach stop and an inn. The farmstead is also the site of the Adamsville Village, a 19th Century log cabin village featuring four reconstructed homes and a schoolhouse. During the festival, visitors can explore the interiors of the various structures on the property.

The Bob Evans Farm is still in operation to this day.