Pork in the park and wisteria hysteria

Pork in the park is an annual barbecue festival near Salisbury, Maryland that has a little something for everyone. Of course the main thing is barbecue, but there is music, a carnival, artists and other vendors, and a car show, as well.

We went to check out the barbecue. We are (at least I am) a believer in Texas barbecue, so this was a test. Along the way around the festival we saw much more than just barbecue. At this booth we wondered how they found enough crabs.

Not all the booths were smoking, but this one was. We focused on the trophies (front and center).

The we scoped out the nifty pig carving.

Then we scoped out the rude sayings. They made us cheerful, but it turned out they were better than the barbecue. We tried a couple of different booths, but were not happy with the results.

It was a bit chilly (50's and breezy), but somebody played the perfect song - Jimmie Hendrix's Let Me Stand Next to Your Fire.

We spent a few minutes listening to a small combo that played old songs/jazz/blues, really sounding great. You can see that it was a bit unusual in its composition.

The banjo set the tone, in the frailing style, along with the singer/organist.

It's pretty clear these people are serious about their barbecue. There were trophies here, and at lots of the booths. The competition runs through the weekend, and includes amateur and professional classes.

The car show was a bit subdued (we were there early in the day). But even their trophies were in character. I think there were almost as many trophies as cars.

There were quite a few interesting cars there.

The cars varied from spit/polish Miatas to customized modern cars to hand-constructed roadsters from various eras. Some were flashy, some kind of strange. I never did like Candy Apple Red.

The entrants appear to travel in style, judging by this fifth wheel camper.

Underwhelmed by the food we departed for Chincoteague, stopping for pictures of the Wicomico and Worcester (county) wisterias. Apparently the area is kind of famous for them. They are all along the roadways, sometimes covering a wall of trees.

Very elegant looking.

We stopped one more time, to take a look at this pile of discarded track spikes, evidence of how well this line is maintained. There are very few trains. The line goes all the way down the peninsula, right next to Route 13 most of the way. At one time freight was unloaded from the trains at Cape Charles, then ferried across the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay to Norfolk.

I regaled E with the story of the Pinkertons, and the havoc they wrought on the hobo population. She thinks she heard some of it, but under quiet protest.