Holtville’s Holt Park is high on the hog!

HOLTVILLE – Pork lovers came to Holt Park for a chance to enjoy the finger-licking and savory pig during the fourth annual Holtville Rotary Club Pulled Pork Cook-off on Saturday, April 20.

The annual event raises money for local youth activities, including Pop Warner football, Little League baseball and school teams for travel expenses to attend out-of-town events.

“The money itself goes to our youth fund that helps youth in general. For example, something we’ve done in the past is donate money to Pop Warner and they bought helmets. We also donated money to the Holtville Little League and they purchased bleachers (for the field),” Ross Daniels, member of the Rotary Club and chairman of the event.

“We donated money to the Meadows Union (east of El Centro) so they could take kids to Catalina Island to study science. We donated money to the Carrot Queen event, and any young person who comes in and shows they need it, we will help,” Daniels added.

Last year the cook-off raised almost $9,000, with only seven teams registered. This year more than 1,000 teams participated. As of Monday morning, April 22, Daniels said the event raised nearly $15,000 for the community’s youth.

Rotary was prepared to host 800 to 1,000 visitors on Saturday, including team members, family members and friends. The scenery during the cooking competition was smoky and loud, and the weather was clear and warm.

There was live music, games for kids and lots of food, such as sliders, tacos, quesadillas and other dishes to go with the main course, pulled pork.

Yuma-based band Checker’d Past entertained the crowd with its energetic performance of ’80s music and set the tone with new wave, one-hit wonders of the video era.

As the teams participating in the cooking competition prepared and served the food and attended to the visitors, some people sat down and enjoyed a cold can of beer, while others danced to the music.

“It’s a great event; it is a great opportunity to showcase all the different talents of the different teams competing at the pull pork cook-off,” said Raul, executive chef of the River Bottom Boys BBQ team.

“It was a great day full of excitement. Young kids running around and people from out of town coming in, it’s great,” he continued. “This is the second time in four years that we have organized this event.”

A visitor to the cook-off commented on how delicious the pulled pork was while holding “Mexican street corn” in her right hand. “Here I have corn and chili, mayonnaise and butter,” Cynthia Juarez said.

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“We also had pulled pork with coleslaw; it was good. Each team has different ones, but to me they all taste the same. This is our first time at one of the pulled pork cook-offs, and it was good,” said Juarez. “We love the band Checker’d Past; we’ve seen them at the Q before.”

Amid all the fun, music and commotion, the teams were hot on their heels as they fought to create the best dish of the night. There were three categories: Best Pulled Pork, The People’s Choice and Best Side Dish.

Best Pulled Pork went to Smoking Bros of Holtville, second place went to IV Grilling Society and third place went to the Imperial County Sheriff’s Department. The People’s Choice award went to Buz Mor Racing for their pulled pork slider. The first place side dish went to Buz Mor Racing’s baked potato. The second place side dish went to Band of Misfits. The third-place side dish went to IV Grilling Society for its macaroni and cheese dish.

The Holtville Rotary Club is grateful for all the support it has received from sponsors, participating teams and everyone involved, said President Daniels. “The Holtville Rotary Club would like to thank our incredible sponsors for their support, our participating teams for their participation, and the community for coming to the event and supporting a great cause. We had a lot of fun and hope to do it again in 2025,” said Chairman Daniels.

The event was sponsored by Golden Acorn Casino, Church Brothers Farms, Mechanics Bank, Warner & Warner, Ojeda Industries, Heart & Hand, RDO, Innercare, Coopers West Insurance, Vessey & Co., Nutrien Ag Solutions, CVB, El Centro Rotary Club , Holt Group, Dune Co., Sun Community Federal Credit Union and Baja Farms.