Winn Parish Louisiana Uncle Earl’s Hog Dog Trials Festival
Each March, the Winn Parish Fairgrounds in Winnfield fill with the sound of dogs working boars. The gathering is printed as Uncle Earl’s Hog Dog Trials, a trials event rather than a fair with a midway, and the week belongs to the dogs: they bay boars in front of judges while handlers walk the pens and the crowd watches a style of hunting that has been part of north Louisiana life for generations. The sheet title adds the words Festival and the parish prefix, but no layer read prints that longer form, so this article follows the published name throughout.
Winnfield is the parish seat of Winn Parish, and the fairgrounds sit in the town where the trials’ namesake grew up. That pairing shapes the event’s character. The trials are not a travelling show that happened to land here; they are rooted in one town, one fairground, and one man’s reputation as a hog hunter.
About
Uncle Earl’s Hog Dog Trials is a week of bay dog trials held at the Winn Parish Fairgrounds in Winnfield, Louisiana. In a bay trial, dogs work a boar in a pen, holding it at bay while judges score them on containment and control of the boar and on style of baying. The dogs wear protective vests and collars, and the judging rewards steady, controlled work. The 2026 edition carried more than six hundred runs, and peak years bring about ten thousand people to the fairgrounds over the week. Alongside the trials, the programme includes the Campfire Cookoff, added in 2012, primitive camping on the fairgrounds, and vendors. A corporation formed in 2011, Uncle Earl’s Hog Dog Trials, Inc., runs the event; its board, selected among City of Winnfield merchants and citizens, oversees the production contracts and the Youth Scholarship Fund.
Full Boar Productions handled production and promotion until 2018; the contractor for the 2018 to 2027 period is named in a reference layer and is described here by role only. A state statute from a 2003 act names the official state Uncle Earl’s Hog Dog Trials as the event held annually in Winn Parish, in the city of Winnfield, and declares the fourth weekend in March Uncle Earl’s Hog Dog Trials Weekend. That fourth-weekend wording sits beside a reference layer’s third weekend of March and dated editions that fall in the third week; the three forms are carried unmerged here.
Quick Facts
| Item | Detail |
| Published name | Uncle Earl’s Hog Dog Trials |
| Host town | Winnfield, Louisiana |
| Parish seat | Winnfield |
| Venue | Winn Parish Fairgrounds |
| Usual timing | March, third week in the dated editions |
| Most recent dated edition | Monday 16 to Sunday 22 March 2026, billed the 28th annual |
| Organiser | Uncle Earl’s Hog Dog Trials, Inc. |
| Classes | Puppy Bay, Youth Bay, Old and Young, One-Dog, Two-Dog |
| Admission | Ticketed; ten dollars a day in 2025 |
| Named for | Earl K. “Uncle Earl” Long |
History
The trials are named for Earl K. “Uncle Earl” Long, a three-time Louisiana governor and a Winnfield native known for his love of hog hunting. The first event was staged in 1995 to mark Uncle Earl’s one hundredth birthday, organised by his old hunting partner Claude L. O’Bryan, a documented originator named in a news layer. A reference layer prints a different starting form, “Begun in 1994”, and the two forms are recorded here as printed, without being reconciled. The billings carry the same kind of disagreement: the 2024 edition is printed as the 29th annual, the 2025 edition as the 30th annual, and the 2026 edition as the 28th annual, while a news layer reports the event in its thirty-first year in March 2026, with day six falling on Saturday 21 March 2026.
For a useful comparison, see the Winn Parish Louisiana Forest Festival for another county festival.
The event’s own history has a break in it. The 2010 edition was cancelled amid a lawsuit over show ownership, and a new corporation was formed in 2011, with a board selected among City of Winnfield merchants and citizens taking responsibility for the production contracts and the Youth Scholarship Fund. Full Boar Productions held the production and promotion contracts until 2018, when the current production contractor took them on for the 2018 to 2027 period. The Campfire Cookoff joined the programme in 2012, and the trials have run at the Winn Parish Fairgrounds throughout the period covered by the layers read.
What to Expect
A day at the trials is built around the pens, where dogs take their turns baying boars while judges watch for containment and control and for style, and handlers call, steady, and read the boar’s movement. Puppy Bay opens the running, Old and Young pairs older and younger dogs, One-Dog and Two-Dog test single dogs and pairs, and Youth Bay gives young handlers their own class. The 2024 edition shows the pattern in detail: Puppy Bay on 18 March, Old and Young across 18 and 19 March, One-Dog on 20 and 21 March, Two-Dog on 21 to 23 March with the finals on Saturday 23 March, and Youth Bay closing the week on Sunday 24 March, with running from eight in the morning to nine in the evening daily.
The 2026 edition ran Monday 16 to Sunday 22 March, billed the 28th annual; the 2025 edition ran Monday 17 to Sunday 23 March, billed the 30th annual. Both carried the same five classes across the week. One parish newspaper layer also prints a 26th annual edition running Wednesday 24 to Sunday 28 March, after the previous year’s gathering had been pushed to October; no year is given for that edition, and none is assigned here.
The atmosphere is that of a working gathering rather than a spectator show: handlers know one another, dogs are kenneled on site, and the crowd gathers close to the pens. First-time visitors should expect noise, dust, and long days, and should watch a full class rather than a single run, since the judging rewards consistency across a dog’s work.
Planning Your Visit
The trials are held in March at the Winn Parish Fairgrounds in Winnfield, and the dated editions fall in the third week of the month, though the state statute names the fourth weekend and a reference layer names the third weekend, so the exact week should be confirmed from the organiser’s own schedule before travelling. Winnfield is the parish seat, so lodging and supplies are arranged around the town.
Admission is ticketed. The 2024 parish newspaper layer prints a ten-dollar one-day wristband and a twenty-five-dollar full-week wristband, and the 2025 layer prints a ten-dollar-a-day entry. A social layer reports twenty dollars at the gate, with the year unclear, and that figure is fenced to the social layer rather than presented as the current price. Camping cost eighty dollars in 2024, and there was no vendor fee for selling dogs that year.
Campers should arrive with their own gear and supplies for primitive camping, and should expect the grounds to be busy from the first morning of the week.
Sample Itinerary
Arrive early and stay through the weekend, following the class order printed for the 2024 edition. Monday opens with Puppy Bay, where young dogs show their first promise and handlers sort the season’s new talent. Tuesday continues with Old and Young, pairing experience with youth, and gives a good sense of how a bay dog learns its work. Wednesday and Thursday belong to One-Dog, the purest test of a single animal’s control and style, and by Thursday the crowd has thinned to the serious watchers.
Friday brings Two-Dog into the pens, and the pairs work the boars together, which changes the rhythm of the trial entirely. Saturday is the day for the Two-Dog finals, and the fairgrounds are at their fullest, with the Campfire Cookoff and the vendors drawing the week’s largest crowd. Sunday closes with Youth Bay, as young handlers take the pens. Each day runs from eight in the morning to nine in the evening in the 2024 pattern, so a visitor can watch a whole class from start to finish and still have time for the cookoff and the vendors.
Comparison
The trials stand apart from most parish gatherings because the contest itself is the event. A weekend fair offers a little of everything; the trials offer one discipline, pursued for a full week, with the classes ordered so the work builds from puppies to finals. The Winn Parish Forest Festival, held at the same fairgrounds, makes a useful contrast: it is a weekend of professional lumberjack competitions, forestry equipment displays, crafts, food, a pageant, and a parade, where the trials are a week of bay dog classes, a cookoff, and camping. Both belong to Winnfield and both use the fairgrounds, but the Forest Festival compresses its programme into days while the trials stretch theirs across a week.
The producer’s other events are not part of this comparison. The Downsville world championship, the October year-end titles, and the World Championship of Hog Baying billing are separate events by the same producer, and they are kept out of this article entirely. The trials in Winnfield are the event named in the state statute and the one with the dated editions printed in the parish newspaper layers, and that is the event described here.
Checklist
- Confirm the week’s dates from the organiser’s own schedule, since the printed timing varies between the third week and the fourth weekend of March
- Bring cash for the gate, the cookoff, and the vendors, and budget for a full-week wristband if you plan to stay
- Pack for primitive camping if you intend to stay on the fairgrounds, with gear for cool March nights
- Wear sturdy footwear and clothes that can take dust from the pens and the fairgrounds
- Plan to watch a whole class, not a single run, to see how the judging rewards steady work
- Keep clear of the pens and follow the handlers’ directions around the dogs and boars
Beyond
Winnfield repays a look beyond the fairgrounds. It is the parish seat of Winn Parish and the hometown of Earl K. “Uncle Earl” Long, the three-time Louisiana governor for whom the trials are named, and the town’s connection to him is the reason the event exists here rather than anywhere else. The Youth Scholarship Fund overseen by the trials’ corporation gives the week a purpose beyond the pens, supporting young people from the community that hosts the event. The fairgrounds are the centre of parish gathering life, hosting the Forest Festival as well as the trials.
Significance
The trials matter to Winn Parish because they turn a working skill into a public tradition. Hog hunting with bay dogs is not a performance invented for visitors; it is a practice with roots in the parish’s rural life, and the trials give it a stage, a set of rules, and a calendar. The state statute’s designation of the official state Uncle Earl’s Hog Dog Trials, held annually in Winn Parish in the city of Winnfield, puts that tradition into formal words, and the Youth Scholarship Fund ties it to the next generation. Peak years bring about ten thousand people to the fairgrounds over the week, making the trials one of the parish’s largest annual assemblies. For Winnfield, the trials are both a remembrance of Uncle Earl and a living contest.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a bay dog trial actually involve?
In a bay trial, dogs work a boar in a pen, holding it at bay while judges score them on containment and control of the boar and on style of baying. The dogs wear protective vests and collars, and the judging rewards steady, controlled work. The classes are Puppy Bay, Youth Bay, Old and Young, One-Dog, and Two-Dog.
Can a newcomer follow a whole week of classes?
Yes. Puppy Bay opens the week, Old and Young follows, One-Dog and Two-Dog fill the middle and the weekend, and Youth Bay closes it. The 2024 pattern: Puppy Bay on 18 March, Old and Young across 18 and 19 March, One-Dog on 20 and 21 March, Two-Dog on 21 to 23 March with the finals on Saturday 23 March, and Youth Bay on Sunday 24 March.
What does a ticket buy, and what costs extra?
Admission is ticketed. The 2024 parish newspaper layer prints a ten-dollar one-day wristband and a twenty-five-dollar full-week wristband, and the 2025 layer prints a ten-dollar-a-day entry. A social layer reports twenty dollars at the gate, year unclear, fenced to that layer. Camping cost eighty dollars in 2024, and there was no vendor fee for selling dogs that year.
Why do the printed year counts disagree?
The layers read do not agree on the trials’ numbering. The 2024 edition is printed as the 29th annual, the 2025 edition as the 30th annual, and the 2026 edition as the 28th annual, while a news layer reports the event in its thirty-first year in March 2026. The starting point is equally split: the first event was staged in 1995 for Uncle Earl’s one hundredth birthday, while a reference layer prints “Begun in 1994”. Each form is carried here as printed.
What to Expect From the Next Winn Parish Louisiana Uncle Earl’s Hog Dog Trials Festival
How often is Winn Parish Louisiana Uncle Earl’s Hog Dog Trials Festival held?
The dated editions fall in March of each year, and the state statute designates the trials as the event held annually in Winn Parish, in the city of Winnfield. The week itself varies between the printed forms: the dated editions fall in the third week of March, a reference layer names the third weekend, and the statute names the fourth weekend.
When is the next Winn Parish Louisiana Uncle Earl’s Hog Dog Trials Festival?
The most recent dated edition ran Monday 16 to Sunday 22 March 2026, billed the 28th annual, with the five classes across the week. After that March week, the layers read name no further date, so the next edition’s timing should be confirmed from the organiser’s own schedule nearer the time.
Will the dates change?
The March pattern has held across the dated editions, but the week has shifted between the third week and the fourth weekend in the printed record. The 2024 edition ran 18 to 24 March, the 2025 edition ran 17 to 23 March, and the 2026 edition ran 16 to 22 March, each time in the third week, while the statute names the fourth weekend. Confirm the coming year’s week from the organiser’s own schedule before travelling.
A week at the Winn Parish Fairgrounds is a direct encounter with a Louisiana tradition staged in Winnfield since the mid-nineties. The trials honour a governor who loved to hunt hogs, test dogs and handlers against a demanding standard, and bring the parish together each March. Come for the dogs, stay for the week, and leave knowing why this corner of Louisiana still gathers around the bay pen.
