Following a successful clambake on Memorial Day, Fay’s Restaurant & Catering and the YMCA teamed up again to celebrate the end of the summer with three large pigs.

Pig-a-Palooza featured food, live music and outdoor activities for kids. People sat outside eating and talking as they watched kids scramble their way up the outdoor rock wall, cheering when a young climber reached the top.

Victor Vieira, the executive chef at Fay’s Restaurant, said he marinated the pigs for three days in thyme, citrus juice, garlic and butter. The pigs, which could serve about 30 people each, took seven hours to roast.

The barbecue featured plenty of other dishes from Fay’s such as lobster rolls, chowder, strawberry feta salad and baby back ribs. One of the bigger hits was a former special at the restaurant: a grilled cheese sandwich made with avocado, bacon and lobster.

“One day we decided to do something different and it worked,” said Vieira of his grilled cheese recipe. “We weren’t going to do it here but the owner said we should try it.”

“It’s delicious. I don’t even like avocados,” said Joshua Vieira, halfway through his sandwich.

The barbecue was both a conclusion to the summer season and a kick off to the busy autumn months at the YMCA.

Dan King, the head farmer at Sharing the Harvest Community Farm, said that he’ll be preparing holes in the fields out back to be used as part of the Kids Mud Run happening during the Fall Family Festival on Sept. 19.

“It’s about a third of a mile. Whatever crops are gone, we’ll put it through that space,” said King. “It’s a 20-obstacle course with mud obstacles.”

For those who want to avoid the mud pits, the YMCA will offer a lot of activities for families during the festival.

“We have some entertainment, we have a reptile show, a kid’s band, pony rides and carnival games,” said Samantha Fagundes, program director at the YMCA. “This year, instead of having concessions, we’re going to have food trucks.”

There will also be a 5k and 10k race that morning, which will benefit the organization's general fund. The fund helps support scholarships for kids to come to summer camp and other programs.

Closer to Halloween, the YMCA will offer hayrides and a haunted house inside their main building. The Halloween event will happen on Oct. 17 and 18 from 6 to 9 p.m.

“It’s really scary, and I refuse to go in,” said Fagundes. “We transform our multipurpose room into a haunted barn. We have volunteers from the come in and scare people.”