Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in The Kewanee Voice Summer Adventure Guide 2025.
For nearly half a century, Donnie and Debbie Pusey and their CDAC company operated the carnival that occupied Kewanee’s downtown streets for four days during the Hog Capital Festival.
Donnie and Debbie have retired from the carnival business, but CDAC is still in their family; their daughter, Deanna, has taken over the operation.
Larry Flannery of the Hog Days Committee said the carnival will be back this year, running from the Friday evening of Labor Day weekend into Labor Day.
This year’s carnival will feature the usual rides and attractions that festival-goers are used to seeing, and Flannery said a new fun house has been added.
As usual, carnival tickets will be sold in advance. This year, the carnival presale began on July 1.
The carnival is just one of the attractions of Kewanee’s Labor Day weekend festival, one of the biggest such celebrations in the Midwest.
This year’s tagline for the 2025 Hog Days Festival is “Pigs Just Wanna Have Fun!” Here’s a list of some the fun already planned:
— What’s billed as the world’s largest pork barbecue begins Friday evening in downtown Kewanee.
Each year more than 25,000 butterfly pork chop and pork patty sandwiches are cooked on charcoal grills and served to hungry festival-goers. The barbecue is run by volunteers from a number of community organizations.
— The Hog Days Stampede. Hundreds of runners take part in the four-mile run through Kewanee’s streets. There are also a mile run and a block-long run for young children.
— For many people, the favorite Hog Days event is a parade. Typically including around 100 entries, the parade runs for about a mile from Kewanee High School to Irving School, passing through downtown Kewanee along the way.
Thousands of people line the city streets to watch the parade with its floats, marching bands, beauty queens and other entries. The Kewanee Chamber of Commerce’s Ambassadors Club organizes the parade every year and chooses a parade marshal.
— A flea market is set up on Friday in West Park. In addition to stands selling all types of merchandise, there will be food stands, and pork chops and patties grilled downtown will be available. The flea market continues throughout the Hog Days weekend.
Professional entertainment is scheduled each evening of Hog Days.
A magician, the Great Shaddeni (aka Zach Shadden) will perform near the stage set up in the Peoples National Bank parking lot.
A large stage with lighting and sound equipment will be set up in the parking lot, and festival-goers can bring lawn chairs to listen to the performers.
On Friday night of the festival, Brushville will perform.
On Saturday, the Kewanee High School marching band will perform in the parking lot after the march in the parade.
Decade of Decadence will be the main entertainment Saturday evening on the big stage. They’re billed as the “ultimate 80s party band.”
On Sunday starting at 11 a.m., singer-guitarist Ryan Smith will perform at the barbecue music tent.
And at the same time, James Herr will perform in West Park.
A nondenominational church service will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday on the main stage.
A local jazz group, Jazz on the Side, will play from 2-4 p.m. Sunday in the downtown area.
David Berchtold will perform from 3-6 p.m. Sunday in West Park.
Revel in Red will play beginning at 7 p.m. Sunday on the main stage.
On Monday, the Incredible 45s, who specialize in rock and roll from the 60s and 70s, will perform from noon to 2 p.m. in the barbecue tent.
There will also be performances at noon and 2:30 p.m. by “The Incredible Circus Boy Bobby Hunt” in the Peoples Bank lot.
Children’s activities scheduled Monday include a kiddie tractor pull, rock climbing, a Kewanee Fire Department meet and greet, face painting, a petting zoo and caricatures by artist Adam Belmares.
The 38th annual Hog Wallow mud volleyball tournament will be held on the Sunday of Hog Days in Chautauqua Park.
So, if you can’t find something fun to do in Kewanee over the Labor Day weekend, it’s because you aren’t looking!
The Kewanee Voice will produce a printed edition, The Hog Herald, in advance of Hog Days. Copies of this edition will be available several days before Hog Days at participating merchants.
