KANNAPOLIS — If the Carolinas are known for anything, it’s barbecue. March 1 is actually National Pig Day and the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers couldn’t help but get in on the fun. To help pay tribute to barbecue and the upcoming Jiggy with the Piggy Festival, the Cannon Ballers will be changing their name to the Kannapolis Q’s during their three game weekend series from May 5-7. The festival will be taking place during the same weekend.

The new uniforms come with a brand new logo, jersey, hat and a green and pink color scheme. The Q’s were actually one of the original team concepts that was thought of before the Cannon Ballers were eventually chosen. Still, the team never quite forgot about it and was looking for the right time to put it to use.

“We’ve had this in making, waiting for that to happen. So it’s been something we’ve been excited about, ready to release, but we wanted to wait until we knew we would be at home the same weekend as Jiggy with the Piggy,” Cannon Ballers General Manager Matt Millward said.

The entire process to introduce this to the public takes time and many people figuring out the best way to approach the design of the uniforms and how to market them.

“When you design a brand there’s so many small details…It’s a really tricky, tedious, but enjoyable process,” Millward said. “There’s a lot of trademark, copyright, Major League Baseball approvals that go with it. So it doesn’t necessarily happen overnight.”

Millward and the Cannon Ballers plan to do similar kinds of branding opportunities in the future using other unused team concepts. For now, he’s just looking forward to the festival and seeing the Kannapolis Q’s take the field in May.

“It’s going to be my favorite weekend of the year, without a doubt,” Millward said.