Unadilla is getting the stage and barbecue sauce ready for the second annual New Year's Eve 'Hog Drop.'
Jacob Reynolds traveled down I-75 to see what started one of Central Georgia's newer New Year's celebrations.
It's the house that hog built. Touring the Myron Mixon smoker and barbecue compound in Unadilla makes it pretty clear the Mixons love a smoked rack of ribs.
Mayor Myron's son Michael says it's pretty simple.
“Respect to the hog. Again, hog rules baby. Our whole livelihood revolves around the hog,” Mixon said with a smile.
The Mixon family is a barbecue dynasty spanning generations. Mixon says his dad, and current Unadilla Mayor, Myron is the winningest man in competitive barbecue. Myron Mixon won world championships in 2001, 2004, 2007 and 2016.
So, it's a fitting menu item that the city he runs drops a hog to ring in the new year.
“This city needed something to really boost morale. We had a lot of tension during that election so I really wanted-- the first year was kinda inspired to get the locals together and get them pumped up and it worked. The city got behind it, they were looking for the second annual and here we are,” Michael told WMAZ inside City Hall.
The Mixon comound, just down the road from City Hall, is a shrine to the pork butt, loin and rib that helped feed their legacy.
For City Hall on Sunday night they've got live entertainment, a barbecue competition, food trucks, small car and tractor shows and even a mechanical hog planned for this year.
But of course, you can't have southern barbecue without a little kick.
“I'm so excited about the fireworks, let me tell you something, I got fireworks this year on the budget that Sea World has after their show, so I mean this stuff is barely legal in the state of Georgia. So, if it's barely legal in Georgia you know it's gonna be good,” Mixon said.
It'll be a new year celebration gone whole hog where locals and tourists alike can come ring in 2018 with a few ribs.
The event starts at 6pm Sunday night in Downtown Unadilla at City Hall and runs till about 1am. Fireworks will shoot off right after the hog drops at midnight.
Admission is free and kids and adults are welcome.
However, food and drinks can be purchased separately.