The Bourgeois Pig Celebrating 3-Year Anniversary With ‘Piggy Palooza’

Stop us if you've heard this one.

This little piggy went to the market. This little piggy stayed home. This little piggy had roast beef. This little piggy had none. And this little piggy had a taste for the finer things in life. He had a taste for the theatrics and liked wearing gaudy clothes, like Lady Gaga and Liza Minnelli at The Oscar's. This little piggy loved art and music and dancing and words and, above all, coffee. In short, this little piggy got a little bougie, and grew up to become The Bourgeois Pig.

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Three years ago, Josh Tinnell set out to make a coffee shop different than any other, before or after. The result was The Bourgeois Pig, which he calls 'Casper's unofficial living room.' And now, to celebrate 3 years of business, The Bourgeois Pig is hosting 'Piggy Palooza,' a three-day event featuring a wide-array of events and activities.

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Piggy Palooza takes place from April 8-April 10 and will feature an art opening, a dance party, live music, a 'bad poetry slam,' and more.

On Friday, April 8, The Pig will host an art opening featuring Casper photographic artist Doug Tunison at 7 p.m., followed by a DJ and dress-up disco party.

Saturday, April 9, will feature live music by local bands, including Blake Kight, Proof of Life, SYLANCE, and Cryptid Encounter. The show will take place from 3:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

And on Sunday, April 10, The Bad Poetry Society of Casper (because that's a thing) will present Casper's very first Bad Poetry Slam-O-Rama; an adjudicated spoken-word poetry competition where the worst poet wins.

The Bourgeois Pig, opened in 2019, exists to provide a space for creativity, self expression, and individuality. It presents these ideas in the art they display, the shows they put on, and in the customers they attract.

The Bourgeois Pig is not just any coffee shop. It's got a hip atmosphere with chill vibes and exceptional coffee, with some unusually entertaining characters, right in the heart of Downtown Casper. And it's all ran by Josh Tinnell.

A hands-on proprietor and a coffee expert, Tinnell prefers to remain the enigmatic man behind the curtain, but he ensures what could have easily been just another coffee shop is anything but.

Three years ago, he set out to make The Bourgeois Pig Casper’s unofficial living room, a communal space of local art and music where taste buds are continually tantalized with the best, Wyoming-roasted coffee and gourmet scratch-made bakes crafted in house. Josh is always asking, ‘what can we do better?’ and has a legendarily fussy approach to everything from sourcing to service. He’s not sorry.

Nor should he be. The Bourgeois Pig likes breaking rules and testing limits. Whether it's by showcasing art that challenges marijuana prohibition, or putting on gallery photography shows that bring attention to sexual assault, The Pig proves each and every day that it's not here just to rock the boat. It wants to tip the m*ther f*cker over.

“Yeah, I’m uncompromising about quality and attention to detail," Tinnell said. "We also have an old-school authenticity here that’s hard to come by these days. We’re passionate about what we do. We keep it real. And we like to break the rules.”

The rules will certainly at least get bent this weekend, as The Bourgeois Pig promises a menagerie of artists, singers, writers, and more who will speak their truth, however much it offends.

This anniversary will not only serve to celebrate The Pig's past and present; it will ensure the shop's future, which is not something every downtown Casper business has been afforded this year.

“It’s been disheartening for all of us at The Bourgeois Pig to see local businesses close their doors," said Sara LeeAnn Pryde, the Marketing and Events Coordinator for The Bourgeois Pig. "We talk about it and we worry about it - because running a small business in this time and place, in any place, is a monumental feat… and we see Josh going non-stop, doing everything he can to keep this eclectic, community hub going strong, to keep employing creative misfits, and keep serving gorgeous drinks and food that’s unlike anything else in Casper. That level of devotion and commitment to excellence inspires me.

"We see the same faces in here every single day: journalists writing, teachers grading papers, artists sketching their next project, musicians sharing their new beats, and so many strangers becoming friends. That’s what this place is about: community. And that’s what we’re celebrating this weekend.”

And celebrate, they shall. The Bourgeois Pig isn't just a coffee shop. It's not just a place to grab an espresso and a bagel. It's a place to sit, to relax, to write, to draw, to think. It's a place to be yourself. It's a place to find yourself. And it's a place that makes Downtown Casper better. Times may be hard, but it's gonna take a lot more than a big bad wolf to blow this Pig's house down. Because it's not made of straw or stone; it's made up of the writers, the thinkers, the dreamers, the lovers. And they, we, are its foundation.

This weekend will prove that.

For more information, check out The Bourgeois Pig's website, or their Instagram page, and be sure to stop by this weekend for a little bit of everything that makes Downtown Casper great.