Mura Region EGTC

On 12 February 2022 the „Mura Pork dishes – VIII. Pigsticker Festival at Murakeresztúr” was organised within the framework of the MR-EGTC Heritage project. During the event, numerous workshops were held with the organisers, pigsticker’s teams, and the involved organisations. As it is an international festival, the organisers contacted directly the Croatian municipalities to invite the Croatian-speaking residents through their mayors. Over the years, the gastronomic and cultural event has grown into the largest winter celebration in Zala County and in the Transdanubian region due to the increasing number of visitors. Many performers and guests came from Croatia and for the first time from Slovenia. Now the festival can truly be regarded as international and the „Mura Pork dishes festival” is a huge success.

The pigsticker’s teams regularly include companies from the neighbouring Croatia. The application of 10 teams were accepted this year which is a record. It is a great pleasure that also the delegation of Petišovci, Slovenia participated. The dishes were judged by a jury of 5 experts.

The chief patron of the event was László Kövér, the Speaker of the National Assembly of Hungary, and the patrons were Péter Cseresnyés, Minister of State, Ministerial Commissioner, Member of the National Assembly (MP) for Nagykanizsa and its region, and Dr. Attila Pál, President of the General Assembly in Zala county. The opening ceremony was addressed by Róbert Polgár, Mayor of Murakeresztúr, László Preksen, Co-Chairman of the Mura Region EGTC, Mayor of Semjénháza and Josip Grivec, Deputy Mayor of Međimurje County, the President of the Mura Region EGTC.

The event started at 10 am and finished at 4 am the next day, opening with the spectacular slaughtering of pigs, and thanks to the famous performers, there was something for everyone throughout the day. Several side-events were also organised in the House of Culture and in the sports hall, where there were handicraft sessions, face painting, Kalap Jakab puppet theatre, a voluntary blood donation courtesy of the Red Cross and the jury tasted and evaluated the teams’ food and work.

The success and popularity of the event is unbroken and its reputation is growing, now in 3 countries.

Source of the article: Mura Region EGTC