From Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy:

Brooklyn Brewery will hold the eighth annual Brooklyn Pigfest in the Empire Fulton-Ferry State Park section of Brooklyn Bridge Park to benefit the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy on Saturday, May 31, 2008.

The 1-6pm festival of cold beer, live music and slow-cooked barbecue at the park’s Tobacco Warehouse will feature Jeff Riley of The Smokin’ Grill and Bon Soir Catering and Sam Barbieri of the Waterfront Ale House in Brooklyn and Manhattan.

They will be slow-cooking whole hogs, pork butt, ribs, chicken and delicious BBQ side dishes. Beer will be provided by New York’s local brewery, the Brooklyn Brewery. Three meal tickets per person are included with admission so that you can enjoy all of these items.

Live music will be performed throughout the afternoon by The South Slope String Band and The Cobble Hillbillies.

Tickets are $85/person in advance through brooklynbrewery.com, or $95 at the door, if available. The Tobacco Warehouse is at the corner of Water and Dock Streets, in Brooklyn’s DUMBO neighborhood.

“We are delighted to turn the proceeds of this event over to the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy for the third year,” said Steve Hindy, founder and president of the brewery. “The park is the realization of a wonderful dream that was born in Brooklyn two decades ago, and Brooklyn Brewery looks forward to toasting that dream’s realization in the years ahead.”

“We’re thrilled that the fabulous barbecue, beer and bluegrass of Brooklyn Pigfest will again help support free public programming in Brooklyn Bridge Park,” said Marianna Koval, President of the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy. “Brooklyn Brewery is a great beer-maker and a great corporate citizen, and we are grateful for their ongoing support.”

Brooklyn Brewery was founded in 1987 by Steve Hindy and Tom Potter and is currently #34 among all breweries in the United States. Its brands are sold in 20 East Coast States. In the coming year, Brooklyn will expand to Texas. The company also exports to Hong Kong, Japan, Britain, Denmark, Sweden and Finland.

Brooklyn Pigfest is an important fundraiser for the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy, a non-profit organization born over 20 years ago to advocate for a park along the downtown Brooklyn waterfront. The Conservancy works to ensure the creation, adequate funding, proper maintenance, public support, and citizen enjoyment of Brooklyn Bridge Park through partnership with the public sector, development of programming, and active promotion of the needs of the park and its constituents. Since 2000, more than a quarter of a million visitors have enjoyed the Conservancy’s free, public programs in the beginnings of Brooklyn Bridge Park.