Feeling cooped up and disconnected? Well, Emily Nicholas wants you front and center down at Tuxedo Junction’s Cabin Fever Party & Pig Roast this Saturday. Just watch your driving as that always tricky wintry mix is predicted for Saturday by the weather prognosticators.

“We get it off a local farm that raises it, I think from Pine Island,” Nicholas said about the unfortunate creature that will provide a bountiful feast for others. “I used to say, no, I’m not eating that — but it’s so good.” Nicholas said that the Cabin Fever party will also be serving up plentiful BBQ chicken as well.

Pine Island is a hamlet in the town of Warwick.

Nicholas is a quiet local success story, working her way up the ranks at The Tuxedo Junction Inn ladder until she finally just took over about a year and half ago with her partner. Now most days and nights she can be found behind the bar, waiting on regulars or keeping the house in order. Tuxedo Junction is smack in the middle of the downtown area of Tuxedo along Rt. 17.

A local mainstay that has a long history of family ties to the community, there’s a reason the eatery’s logo claims it’s the place Where Friends and Family Meet. It appears to be, especially Fridays, when the room fills with families and regulars. While it serves food and regularly has live music, the Junction also boasts one of the only public pool tables in the area. Imagine. Although the play area is tight, the Junction does provide a house short cue to bang the ball.

Nicholas was also recently elected vice president of the Tuxedo Chamber of Commerce.

“Jen Hartley, the old owner, was on the chamber,” Nicholas said, smiling at how she got the post. “They said, ‘you’d be perfect for the job!’ It really is a great group of people.”

The Tuxedo Junction annual Cabin Fever Party & Pig Roast is now in its fifth year and takes place this Saturday, February 23, beginning at 2 p.m. Tickets cost $20 per person and get you all-you-can-eat pulled pork, plus your fill of  BBQ chicken, potatoes, beans, veggies, salad, and other foods. There will be a raffle and music by DD Royal.

“Everybody gets cabin fever. And we thought a pig roast in the winter would be cool,” said Nicholas.

“We usually do it in spring, or maybe the fall or summer — but never February. So usually it’s nice out and we’ll rope off part of our parking lot and put out tables and have music. But this time, since it’s going to be colder, we’re going to roast the pig outside and have everything inside.”

So, if you want to stretch those legs and have hankering for fresh pulled pork, well, you know where to go.