WHO KNEW?

Cincinnati, Ohio was a big pork packing center in the 19th century, and earned the name “Porkopolis”. To celebrate the city’s bicentennial in 1988, designer Andrew Leicester designed a new waterfront for the city, which included four flying pigs atop smoke stacks, to represent the pigs who gave their lives in the town’s slaughterhouse. The flying pigs became a symbol for the city. Cincinnati hosts the Flying Pig Marathon each year, which was designated the “best named marathon in the country” by Runner’s World Magazine! In 2000, downtown Cincy was decorated with artists’ interpretation of pig sculptures in a project called the Big Pig Gig. Many of the pigs featured wings in homage to the bicentennial pigs and the marathon. Several of the pig statues are still seen in the city, such as these dancing winged pigs in front of the Cincinnati Ballet.

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