What Does ‘Hoghead’ Mean? Explanation of the Name of Proctor’s Hoghead Festival

The Hoghead Festival, or just "Hoghead" for folks in Proctor, is an annual tradition. The weeklong festival features a wide variety of community festivities that range from parades to street dances, food events to golf outings, and much more.

While lifelong Proctorites know what Hoghead is all about, other folks from the area might not know what the abnormal-sounding name is all about.

Anyone who has ever been in Proctor knows that the rail industry is a huge part of the history of the town. The rail yard in Proctor is still a prominent part of town with trains coming and going through the hub to and from the Twin Ports.

Heck, the mascot of Proctor High School is "The Rails" for goodness sake. With that deep rail heritage, the Hoghead Festival got its start over 40 years ago as a celebration of that history.

So, why "Hoghead"? It has nothing to do with an actual hog's head.

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The name "hoghead" or "hogger" is railroad slang for a locomotive engineer. There is some debate as to where the name came from, but one theory is based around the fact that large freight locomotives were called hogs - possibly due to their "water-hogging" steam engines. Following that, engineers got the nickname "hoggers" or "hogheads".

Now that you know what the name is all about, you can check out the Hoghead festivities in Proctor in confidence!