Have you ever wondered why October is called the silly season?
Of course it has to do with politics.

During the silly season, the airwaves are filled with television and radio commercials, and bleary-eyed candidates find themselves, as Tip O'Neill once wrote, waving at telephone poles and shaking hands with statues in their quest to secure every possible vote they can.

Political campaigns are relatively tame here in Berea, but that wasn't always the case. The election of 1892 may go down as one of the fiercest political battles ever fought here in the folk arts and crafts capital.

You may be wondering what the topic was. Alcohol sales? Taxes? A proposed highway? Nothing so trivial, it turns out. The election was about whether local residents should be required to corral their livestock.

Long before Berea was known for its tree-lined streets and crafts shops, it was, well, something of a pigsty if you are to believe historical accounts.

Back then, a lack of adequate drainage left many of the city streets covered with mud, and because local folks were not required to contain their livestock, pigs and the occasional cow loitered happily in their muddy downtown paradise. The pigs were delighted. Berea College officials were not.

Many an inconsiderate swine soiled the pristine lawns of the college, and the problem became so bad that a male student was charged with the task of standing guard on the lawn in front of the ladies' dorm, prepared to chase away any offending pigs or cows. How's that for a Berea College labor position? Telling fellow alum you were a waiter at Boone Tavern is one thing. Telling them you were a broom maker for College Crafts is not too shabby, either. But how would you like to fess up to having been the ladies' dorm pig monitor? Something definitely had to be done.

When an animal containment proposal was introduced, the town quickly divided into two factions - those committed to safeguarding the liberties of Berea's pigs and cows, and those committed to fencing them in.

You could say that the fur really flew at election time (sorry), but when all was said and done, the containment law narrowly passed, and animal owners were thereafter fined if their delinquent critters were caught roaming the streets.

People may call October the silly season, but for sheer silliness, nothing may ever again compare to Berea's great pig debate of 1892.