Gov. Terry Branstad is pardoning a 2-month old pig from a central Iowa farm in celebration of a popular festival.
Branstad will pardon the Berkshire breed Friday morning at the governor's mansion in Des Moines. The pardon will be ahead of the Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival scheduled for Saturday at the Iowa State Fairgrounds.
The pig will be named Bonnie and she will later be returned to a farm in State Center that works under Eden Farms. A spokesman for the Des Moines-based coalition of independent family farmers says Bonnie is expected to become a pet and enjoy the great outdoors.
Attendees ate 6,000 pounds of bacon at the festival last year. Tickets for this year's event sold out in three minutes.
