Ah, another year, another BaconFest under my belt!  It was a lovely warm afternoon for being outside and eating bacon, and only started to cloud up after my bacon-buddy Steven and I were well on our way back home (funny how standing around in the sun can really take it out of you. /strikes dramatic pose).  I was glad to hear it they sold out again this year, so hopefully Dad’s Garage will have good funding for another year of ridiculous.

To start off, we have the obligatory shot of Steven double-fisting cups: one of beer, one of bacon.  When you first enter BaconFest (once your ID and ticket have been checked) it is obligatory to walk directly to the bacon tent where you can either grab a BLT or just a big cup of bacon.  The beer the comes directly after.  These are the rules.  I didn’t make them up (yes I did).

A lot of the same booths were back this year (Sanitary Smooches, Hunt an Improvisor, Terrible Caricatures, Wheelchair Obstacle Course), but there were a few new ones in the mix as well.  Blast the Easter Butt-y (in the butt) was probably the one of the more notable new booths.  It may or may not have involved someone dropping their pants and someone else throwing eggs at them.  Steven and I decided “classy” was the number one word to describe BaconFest.  Aw, yiss.

Of course, there was also the face painting booth, which I took part in last year with an awesome bacon-stache.  The woman who painted my face this year (who may, in fact, have been the same one) did a sweet job giving me exactly what I asked for: a bacon crossed with a sword.  “Like a crest”, I told her.  She knew what I was going for.

She offered to put a shield around it, but I was pretty pleased with the way it turned out originally, so decided to keep it that way.  I was pretty stoked.

This year the bigger attraction for me was the larger selection of restaurant tastings they had.  BaconFest added some new ones this year, and damn all the offered food was delicious.  There was Wrecking Bar Brewpub that offered an amazing sample of pork belly in a delicious vinegary sauce and radish, as well as an amazing smokey-flavored beer (a “rauchbier”, Steven informed me).  We wanted to go back for seconds, but they were out of samples by the time we did.  Blast!

After Wrecking Bar we stood in the super-long line for P’Cheen.  These guys had two fabulously creative samples to offer: pork belly sashimi and bacon ice cream sandwiches between french toast.  Wow is all I can say.  I’m definitely going to have to check P’Cheen out on my own free time if all their food is this good.

And back again was Pine Street Market with – believe it or not – bacon jam!!

Clearly these people are professionals because unlike mine, their jam turned out perfectly.  I kind of wish they’d had jars there to sell, because I would’ve been sore tempted to pick one up, just to prove to the world (or perhaps, just to remind myself) that delicious bacon jam can exist.  If I’d done mine correctly, I’m pretty sure it would’ve tasted a lot like this – smokey (of course) but also sweet, with chewy pieces of bacon in it.  Oh, so good.

The King of Pops stand was back with their original bacon-flavor, Canadian Bacon (maple) and 2 new ones: Double Oink (chocolate) and Breakfast in Bed (coffee).  Per the selling-gentleman’s recommendation, I went with the coffee and didn’t regret it – it turns out bacon and coffee are DELICIOUS together.  I must remember this for Bacon Week 2014…

And there was, of course, the music.  There were a few 90s-style cover bands, and the Seed & Feed marching band was back yet again, with old people in wacky costumes.  I love these guys because they clearly just don’t care what you think and always look like they’re having a great time.  Also, they played In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida so…yeah.  They’re kind of awesome.

And well…that more or less wraps up both BaconFest and Bacon Week, 2013!  Thanks to everybody who participated and everybody who read…I hope you enjoy this as much as I do!  I takes a decent amount of planning to get Bacon Week done for the last few years, but it’s always been worth it.  Have a bacony Easter, everybody!