There’s a new swine on the De Martines farm – and at more than 1,000 pounds, it’s a bit heavier than the typical hog.
Wanting to do something special for their son’s upcoming wedding, Fred and Ingrid De Martines enlisted the help of a friend in combining six bales of straw, a few steel pins and some chicken wire to create a 10-foot-long sculpture of a pig.
It’s an appropriate symbol for the wedding, as the De Martines family has been raising pigs for generations and running Perth Pork Products for more than 30 years.
It also makes a handy landmark to help all those coming from out of town to find the Sebringville-area farm, where the wedding will take place.
“It’ll be a sign … for all the guests to know where to turn,” says Fred.
After Saturday’s wedding – at which the menu, naturally, features pork – the pig will remain standing as part of the inaugural Perth County Straw Sculpture Tour.
Over two weeks in September, tour-goers will be able to see larger-than-life sculptures of livestock, vegetables and flowers at locations all around the country.
If the sculpture’s early reception is any indication, the De Martines pig will be one of the biggest draws on the tour.
“We were barely done with this pig and people were stopping already, getting out of their vehicles and taking pictures,” says Fred.
