The Seventh Annual Brooklyn Pigfest was held this past weekend and, except for the part about running out of food, was a huge success. Hundreds of people paid $85 a head to eat some of the city’s best barbecue, cooked up by the combined forces of the Waterfront Ale House and the soon-to-open Hill Country BBQ. Both teams had to scramble, though, as a result of organizers having wildly underestimated the number of attendees. Many frustrated figures were left standing in line with little to show for their time and money but some hastily cooked ribs — if that.

The organizers continued to sell tickets long after it was known that the food was running out, a move that not even the event’s charitable cause could excuse. But those who came early got to eat superb barbecue, in the form of four 200-pound hogs that had been cooked for the previous 24 hours, and sausages direct from Kreuz Market in Texas. A big difference! This was one event where it made sense to come early, or not at all.