Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival
Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival | |
---|---|
Genre | Bacon |
Date(s) | Saturday |
Begins | 10am |
Ends | 4pm |
Frequency | Annual |
Location(s) | Des Moines, Iowa |
Website | www |
The Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival is an annual festival in Des Moines, Iowa. Founded by members of the Iowa Bacon Board, the festival sold 200 tickets to the first festival in 2008. Today, the bacon celebration has grown to host approximately 14,000 bacon-lovers in all.[1] Ticket holders can compete in a bacon-eating contest, listen to lectures about bacon, and sample bacon from vendors. Festival organizers have extended the celebration internationally through the Blue Ribbon Bacon Tour.
Description
For the price of an admission ticket, each attendee has been entitled to a T-shirt, a choice of bacon samples, and a
In 2012, a major change was made from the "all you can eat" bacon, which was included in the ticket price from years earlier, to a pay as you eat price structure. Justification for the added cost was to reduce lines for bacon goods vendors bring in and cook. Vendor Bacon items run $3 to $8 a piece on top of the ticket price.
History
The Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival was founded in 2008 by Brooks Reynolds, an Iowa
The Festival attracted 200 people in 2008 and 300 in 2009. The 2010 Festival sold all 600 tickets in 30 minutes: That year, the Festival served roughly 30 thousand bacon-strips (that is, about 50 strips per person); the bacon's total weight was 1,200 pounds (540 kg), that is, 2 pounds (0.91 kg) per person.[5] The next year, in 2011, the Festival sold all 1,500 tickets in 4 minutes.[2]
Themes
Year | Theme |
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2008 | Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival |
2009 | 2nd Annual Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival |
2010 | 2010 - A Bacon Odyssey |
2011 | Field of Bacon: If You Fry It, They Will Come! |
2012 | Baconpocolypse: I Love the Smell of Bacon in the Morning |
2013 | Viking Bacon Quest: A Journey to the Land of Fire and Ice....and Bacon! |
2014 | Viva Las Bacon! |
2015 | Baconmania VIII! |
2016 | Body By Bacon! |
2017 | Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival X - The Good, The Bad, and The Bacon! |
2020 | Baconritaville |
State of Bacon film
In 2013, the Iowa Bacon Board in conjunction with Digital Cuvée, a production company founded by Jason Cook, set out to make a film entitled State of Bacon utilizing the festival as the centerpiece of the story. In the style of Christopher Guest or Sasha Cohen, the film is a mockumentary, utilizing actors to interact in the real world, as a mash-up style to tell each storyline, and overall transport viewers to the wild and crazy world of Bacon Wonderland.
Tour
After having worked at the Festival, some of its entertainers formed the Blue Ribbon Bacon Tour. One of the Tour's regular participants,
References
- ^ "Bacon Enthusiasts Converge in Iowa for Festival". The New York Times. 9 February 2013. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
- ^ Des Moines Register. 22 January 2011. Retrieved 31 January 2011.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival Blog". blueribbonbaconfestival.com. Archived from the original on 3 February 2011. Retrieved 31 January 2011.
- ^ Westly, Erica (1 March 2010). "National Pig Day". Fastcompany. Retrieved 29 June 2011.
- Des Moines Register. Retrieved 31 January 2011.
- Pittsburgh Post Gazette. Retrieved 31 January 2011.
- ^ McClellan, Jennifer (2 June 2009). "Bacon blogger takes obsession on sizzling tour". The Arizona Republic. Retrieved 31 January 2011.