Madison Health Care Services was doing a fundraiser for Christmas gifts for the nursing home. Andy Thole asked me a while back if I would be willing to be added to the list to kiss a pig during the Lac qui Parle County Fair.

Four people volunteered and the one with the most votes would have to kiss a pig in the 4H building on the last day of the fair. It was a fundraiser and I thought it was for a good cause so I said yes. I didn’t think much about it and it didn’t seem like that big of a deal when he asked me. Sunday of the fair rolled around and all of a sudden it’s a big deal. I started to get real nervous. I’m a city kid, not a farm kid and I’m not too fond of farm animals.

All during the fair, I stopped at the MHCS booth underneath the grandstand to see how much money was in each container. The participants were me, Dr. Hacker, Karin Moen and Eric Bjerke. Someone had dropped some big bills in my bin. Andy teased me all during the fair that I would win and get ready to kiss a pig.

Sunday morning came. Roxie and I went to the church service in the Event Center at 10:30. While we were getting ready to worship. Andy Thole shows up and throws a pig button down shirt at me! It was confirming that I was about to kiss a pig after church. The church service was over around noon and we made our way over to the 4H building where the pigs were. It was about to happen and I didn’t know how this was going to go.

I put my pig shirt on and Andy started taking pictures. He seemed to be enjoying this. Some people were standing around including CEO Eric Bjerke of the MHCS to witness the event. Eric and I are friends and so we were both laughing and having a good time with it. Then it happened. They took me to a pen with a large pig in it! I thought I was going to kiss a baby pig!!! That wasn’t the case. I’m sorry, but I don’t remember the teenage girl whose pig I was about to kiss. She was from Dawson. She had a stick in her hand to keep the pig under control.

I sat down on a 5 gallon pail to start with and I couldn’t bend down enough to kiss the pig on the snout! He kept his nose down the whole time. Then he knocked me off the pail, then bit my right foot and she was mad! I’m about to kiss a mad female pig! I felt sorry for the girl trying to help me. I told Andy that this isn’t going as planned! But, I eventually kissed the pig on the top of the head and everyone was happy.

I told Eric, that I will expect free room and board when I have to move into the nursing home for this stunt! I think he said yes! All in all it was a fun day. I wore my pig shirt around the fairgrounds all day. The best part, was a lot of money was raised for MHCS for a good cause. Thanks for everyone that voted not only for me but the others.