It’s time for the 39th Annual Virginia Pork Festival in Emporia.

Always held the second Wednesday in June, the event at the Greensville Ruritan Club Grounds brings in thousands.

For $32, visitors this Wednesday, June 13, can sample more than 30 pork dishes from 4 to 8 p.m.

Several bands will perform at the annual event.

Billed as one of the East Coast’s largest food festivals, the event serves as a fundraiser.

The Greensville Ruritan Club hosts the festival and allows Ruritan clubs throughout the region to help and benefit.

The Newsoms Ruritan Club, for example, will return this year. Members will arrive by late morning to grill pork chops.

Organizers will provide the Newsoms Ruritan members with enough charcoal, chops, serving containers, napkins and whatever else is needed.

The Ruritans will cook the chops, which are wrapped in foil and kept warm in Styrofoam coolers until the gates open.

It’s really a good fundraiser for Ruritan clubs because everything is provided; the clubs just provide the manpower.

Over the past three decades, more than $2 million has been donated to the Ruritans and other nonprofit organizations that help.

Tickets are available at www.vaporkfestival.com or by calling 434-634-6611.

Tickets will not sold at the gate.