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Rick Ivey, original owner of the barbecue restaurant, perches on the pig statue in this 2004 photograph. The pig is on eBay. |
The notorious Virginia Barbeque piggy went to market yesterday.
Except this time she's what's for sale, not the homemade concoctions of the North Stafford eatery she has brought attention to for almost three years.
Ramco-Gershenson Inc., which manages the restaurant's Aquia Towne Center building, has asked business owner Frank Sopko to send the little piggy all the way home.
But Sopko, who relocated his shop from the other side of U.S. 1 just four months ago, put the 4-foot-tall fiberglass creature up for auction on eBay instead.
"I can't risk losing the business over that pig," he said.
Michael Sullivan, senior vice president of asset management for Ramco-Gershenson, said his firm had heard vague stories about the pig's controversial history when Sopko signed a five-year lease. But his company didn't know the statue would be moving with the restaurant until other tenants in the shopping center started to complain it was blocking walkways.
The building's lease requires businesses to comply with the landlord's sign requirements, which prohibit structures in common areas used by other tenants.
Sopko suggested moving the pig out near U.S. 1, but that requires county and VDOT approval. He also considered taking it to one of his other stores. But the one in Culpeper is too small. And another he plans to open in Spotsylvania's Southpoint II won't be ready until September.
So the pig had to go.
Bette Ann German, owner of Snappy Auctions on Garrisonville Road, is helping him sell the statue on eBay's online auction block. Her drop center helps people post, monitor and ship items for a percentage of the profit.
She said the pig will be listed for 10 days. She expects it to sell for about $800 to $1,000. Sopko paid $1,500 for it in 2003.
Snappy Auctions typically collects a 25 percent to 35 percent commission from all sales. But all proceeds from the pig will be donated to Stafford Emergency Relief Through Volunteer Effort Inc., which provides emergency food, clothing, utility and rent assistance to Fredericksburg-area residents.
"With the history of this little guy I'm hoping we will be able to generate the interest," German said.
The animal has sat in the lobby of her store for the past few weeks. And many people have asked about it.
"People are bothered that they have all come to know where it is and see it. They want to make sure its going somewhere they are going to know about," German said. "Bringing it over on the back of a pickup truck, you should have seen the looks. People knew it was the Virginia Barbeque pig."
The porker, named Barbie Q Queen in a drawing last spring, earned her fame shortly after the restaurant's 2003 Stafford opening.
Original owner Rick Ivey made county officials squeal when he hoisted the Hampshire hog onto the roof of the eatery, then located in a former Roy Rogers building. Stafford's sign ordinance prohibits rooftop displays, and supervisors refused to make an exception.
Decked in a Santa hat, the pig returned to the roof the following winter after Sopko bought the business. He claimed it was a Christmas decoration and moved it back to the ground before getting in much trouble with the county.
But he proceeded to protest local officials' efforts to interfere with his marketing mechanism by sending the pig on a communitywide tour. It showed up in front of other local businesses wearing everything from a ballet tutu to workout gear.
Aquia Supervisor Paul Milde, who represents Virginia Barbeque's district, later rehashed the issue in his defeat of incumbent Kandy Hilliard in the November election. Hilliard had defended the county's sign ordinance over the restaurant's right to put the pig on the roof.
"The poor pig can't catch a break," Milde said. "We've been through a lot together. I'm sorry to see [her] go."
Vandals later covered the statue with a messy coat of pink paint, but Sopko restored the hog's black-and-white skin just before moving to Aquia Towne Center in March.
Sullivan, whose company just learned of the pig's notoriety, said he plans to call county and VDOT officials to see if a roadside home for the hog can be arranged.
"It would be cute to see if there's another way to position it, but I don't know if it's possible," he said. "We'd love to see Frank prosper and survive in the county, and to an extent, the pig can help him do that."
Sopko said he feels indebted to the animal, and it's a shame their business relationship has ended this way. But he's tired of dealing with the controversy.
"The pig saved our business.
Without all the press and everything going on it would have gone under a long time ago," he said. "People know us because of that silly thing."
To reach MEGHANN COTTER:
Email: mcotter@freelancestar.com
