Virginia Barbecue owner Rick Ivey rides the fiberglass pig he's been asked to remove from the rooftop of his Stafford eatery. rdt View More Images from this story Visit the Photo Place

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Big pig makes county grunt

Restaurant owner getting grief from Stafford over rooftop statue

By RUTH FINCH

Date published: 2/9/2004

By RUTH FINCH

U.S. 1 through Stafford County is not a pigsty, and county officials say it shouldn't look like one.

That's why they say the gigantic fiberglass Hampshire porker that peers down onto the highway from its perch atop Virginia Barbecue Co. has got to go.

The county has given its owner, Rick Ivey, a month to take it down or face a fine.

But Ivey, who owns the restaurant across the road from Aquia Towne Center and its sister eatery in Fredericksburg, said he plans to appeal.

He likes the pig. His customers like the pig.

And some of them think the county officials are just being pig-headed by asking him to take it down.

"I think there are a lot of worse things to look at on the side of the road than a pig on a roof," said Ed Greiner, a Stafford man who stopped for lunch at the Virginia Barbecue Co. before heading down Interstate 95.

But Stafford Supervisor Kandy Hilliard, who represents the stretch of U.S. 1 that includes Ivey's restaurant, said she thinks the roadside kitsch detracts from the atmosphere of the area, which also includes the historic Aquia Episcopal Church.

It's not personal, she said. She is a Virginia Barbecue Co. customer herself. But she has been trying to spruce up the county since she was elected in 2001, initiating a litter prevention and cleanup campaign and applying for grants to beautify the Stafford Courthouse area. The pig isn't helping her cause.

"I have a real desire to improve the aesthetics of the county, and you have to start somewhere," Hilliard said. "If he wants to have the pig as part of the decor, that's fine. But put it down so it's not the only thing you see when you look up the street."

Ivey said he hoisted the pig, a $1,100 painted fiberglass statue about 41/2 feet tall, a day or two after the U.S. 1 restaurant opened last November. He wanted to attract attention to his new eatery in a building formerly occupied by a Roy Rogers franchise.

"I'm not a big corporation that can afford to spend a lot of money on signs," he said. "This is one way to get a big impact for not much money."

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Date published: 2/9/2004