BRANTFORD, Ont. — For the third consecutive year, Trison Tarps thanked its customers and supporters by hosting a pig roast.

Paul Vandenberg, president of Trison Tarps, has cooked more than 20 pigs on his custom-built smoker, mostly for charitable causes. Two years ago, he hosted a pig roast to celebrate the opening of Trison’s new 48,000 sq.-ft. facility. Last year, he repeated the event in honour of the company’s tenth anniversary. And this year he held the pig roast again, well, just because.

Asked if the Trison customer appreciation pig roast is now officially an annual event, Vandenberg said “It kind of looks like it.”

This year he upped the ante, smoking a 295-lb pig, enough to feed more than 400 people. He fired up the smoker at 2 a.m.

“I’ll be sleeping at 4 o’clock,” he joked, while dishing out hearty servings of smoked pork to guests. Vandenberg manned the smoker all day but he credited his wife with putting in even more time than him. She prepared the baked goods and helped set up for the event.

Vandenberg was pleased with the turnout. Shortly after noon, he said about 300 guests had already filed through.

“I was hoping for about 300 but we’ll get more than that for sure,” he said. “We’ve seen that already. We’re pretty happy with that. I won’t be eating it all myself.”

The tarp business is doing well, he added.

“Business has been good, I cannot complain at all,” Vandenberg said. “It’s been a good year so far. We’re still selling quality because the cheaper products are not our strong point. We stick with quality and it seems to work. There’s still resistance to the overseas market.”

Trison’s tarps are manufactured in Ontario. The company employs about 30 people. In addition to tarping systems and tie-downs, the company also operates Rock Hard Liners, providing liners for trucks and dump bodies.

Trison Tarps is a family-run business. It was named after Vandenberg’s three sons, Brad, Matt and Doug, who are all involved in the business.