BACONFEST

[Silkie McDonough]

Would those interested in Baconfest East Please PM me your Address so that I may send you your invitation and driving directions.

Festivities will take place in New Jersey just outside of Philadelphia. Sleeping space is limited so first come first serve.

[Silkie McDonough]

Just as a reminder!

[Silkie McDonough]

Red Bess and I are claiming Baconfest Minnesota! Take that Iowa!

I have some of your guests coming to the Philly area this year!

I shall be sure to point them in your direction for next year though.

[Silkie McDonough]

William what time will our simultaneous parties take place?

BTW I still don't have a web cam and the person who was to bring one will not be attending.

[Red Cat Jenny]

[William Brand]

All Baconfests should begin no later than 7:00 pm local time. I will post the times for each of the Baconfests once I have spoken with the various participants.

For now...a gentle reminder...

[William Brand]

Happy Baconfest Eve!

[Silkie McDonough]

Let me be the first to wish you HAPPY BACONFEST!

[Lily Alexander]

From those of us at Baconfest Buffalo:

We wish you all a joyous day filled with all things bacon.

"Here's to the hog"

[William Brand]

For the first time since Baconfest began in Smithfield, Utah in 1993, a member of our order has begun the first International Baconfest. Baconfest Moscow begins in ten minutes, but the activities leading up to it began at 10:45 AM in Russia when my niece Jesi and her roommates left their apartment in search of bacon, beverages and decorations. The entire excursion lasted some six hours and when she spoke to me at 8:00 AM Mountain Standard Time, they all sounded positively giddy. Their internet access is limited, but I shall post what I hear from them as the day progresses.

Jesi insists that they will all be up for the next five hours.

I also spoke with Adrian in Chicago and Jonas in Alaska yesterday and everyone seems set to begin their events very soon. Silkie will start Baconfest East (the catalyst behind the added fervor this year) in eight hours time.

[Silkie McDonough]

Good master William, Thank you for keeping us appraised of the festivities!

Drat ..how many hours?! Gotta go!

[William Brand]

Instructions for Baconfest:

1. Baconfest is held the second Saturday of October every year. When the event first began, it was held the first Tuesday of every December, but Christmas events, some bitter cold winters and other scheduling issues eventually forced us to alter the date. Since October is generally cooler without being cold and the night begins early enough in the Fall, it was finally decided to move the event to October from here infinitum.

2. All dishes served at Baconfest must contain some bacon except for desserts and cornbread. Cornbread was served at the first Annual Baconfest in 1993 and it did not contain bacon, so it is a standard canonized food served every year, sans bacon.

3. Plain bacon may be brought in lieu of a bacon dish.

4. The official beverages served since the beginning are eggnog, homemade root beer and apple cider. It was decided over time that any beverage may be served, given that some people hate eggnog, and even those who like it have commented that it tastes like metal shavings when you've been eating bacon all night. If you should bring apple cider, remember, in the etymology of Baconfest, apple cider is known as Royal Flush since it has a tendency to loosen one's bowels.

5. The official dress of Baconfest is whatever you want it to be. The original Baconfest has always been a crazy, mixed costumed event of medieval pageantry and high Renaissance, but since many people do not have costumes, or they wish to have some other theme or no theme at all, the dress at each event is chosen by those attending.

6. Baconfest general begins between 6:00 and 7:00 PM local time.

7. Baconfest is begun by the Bacon Master of Ceremonies (BMC). This is generally the person hosting the event. The BMC welcomes everyone to the event and then holds the traditional moment of silence for those who could not attend. This moment of silence is to last no less than half a second and no more than a second and a half. The moment of silence is a tongue in cheek way of saying, "If you couldn't make it, you don't get much of a moment of silence".

8. There is a second very genuine moment of silence which may or may not be observed for friends or family that have passed away in the intervening year between the previous Baconfest and the current one, but that is the choice of the BMC or guests.

9. Food is served almost immediately after the opening ceremonies, however short or long they may be. '

10. Toasts may be made at any time during the event honoring everything from the host to the sacred pig and back again. Any guest may make a toast.

11. Duels are not encouraged, neither are they discouraged. In the history of Baconfest some two dozen duels have broken out. Of course, these were all on the same night and that was years ago. These were of course mock duels. Adrian Garvin was the first to challenge another Baconfest attendee to a duel in 1997. He slapped me with a glove and cried, "You dishonored my sister!". The rest is history.

12. The BMC may decide whether or not a "Strutting Contest" is in order. A strutting contest is basically the opportunity for any guest to "strut their stuff". It is a posturing contest where contestants due their little turn on the catwalk. The BMC decides the winner based on applause.

13. You may wish to have a recipe contest for the best bacon dishes. A recipe contest is highly encouraged as it improves the nature of those dishes brought to the event, and that ain't a bad thing.

14. You may also wish to have a Bacon Eating Contest. Prior to the Fifth Annual Baconfest, Wade Olsen, Casey Hatch, Steve Fonnesbeck and Adrian Garvin all got into a debate about who could eat the most bacon. Verbal gauntlets were thrown. Challenges were made. Believe you me, bravado was not in short supply. Thus, a bacon eating contest was born, complete with a pig trophy and no small share of heart disease. Trust me...this is not encouraged. I've seen people try to kill each other this way. I have attended all fifteen Baconfest events and I have never participated in this predominantly male sport, although...my wife's name is on the trophy for 2002.

I will not list the rules here, but anyone wishing to have a bacon eating contest may contact me for the rules.

15. You are encouraged to have a token 'Holy Man' at the event. This person may choose to dress up as a priest from any period in history or no period at all. Generally speaking, you choose the least holy person in your group to play this part. Our Holy Man was a chain smoking, drinking, cussing fellow by the name of Jonas. He is hosting Baconfest North in Homer Alaska.

16. Last, but certainly not least, have a good time. Baconfest is mostly just good, clean fun and local traditions will naturally evolve on their own, so have a good time.

[Capt. Sterling]

Happy Baconfest Ladies and Gents!

[William Brand]

Baconfest 15 has officially started and the weather is divine and the bacon is plentiful.

Mmmm...bacon.

[Ransom]

A toast to the romantic, baconfest dinner for two.

Scallops wrapped in bacon

Bacon, cheese, and green tomato frattata

Bacon and Spinach salad

Beer & wine

Bon appetit, mes amies!

Baaaconnnnnn.......

[William Brand]

It is one in the morning and Baconfest Fifteen has come and gone. We broke our previous record for most attendees at one event. Forty-seven people all eating bacon dishes. What a great night. I'll post some highlights tomorrow. For now, I'm off to bed.

[Red Cat Jenny]

mmmmmmmmm....baconnnn

[William Brand]

Baconfest Fifteen has come and gone, but not without significant fanfare...

Baconfest Moscow came off without a hitch and the small group which gathered there had a rip-roaring good time. Jesi Elwood hosted the event in Russia. She has attended the original Baconfest many times. Her parents were two of the 46 people who attended in Logan.

Mary Anne hosted Baconfest East in Collingsworth, New Jersey, which sported a very nice spread of food for a first Baconfest. Steve Fonnesbeck, an original member of past Baconfests for many years, was able to attend there. We spoke by phone several times during the night.

Adrian And Gina Garvin held an intimate gathering of bacon eaters in Chicago. I spoke with them several times by phone and their kids screamed "Bacon!" in the background as we conversed. We passed the phone around so that several people could speak with them.

Baconfest North was held in Homer Alaska and it was hosted by Jonas at a friend's house. While only three of them were in attendance there, they have very ambitious plans for next year. They ate a very simple, but elegant meal of post roast cooked in bacon with a side of bacon.

Baconfest itself, held in Logan, Utah, was host to almost fifty people and the place was so loud at times that I had to go outside to take and make calls to the other events. Recipes at the event included, bacon stuffed dates, bacon wrapped, gorgonzola cheese stuffed apricots cooked in brandy, bacon pie, bacon salad, bacon stuffed mushrooms, bacon cookies, bacon potatoes with egg and cheese, Bacon rice pilaf, bacon nut cheese spread, bacon and olive stuffing, bacon with green beans, bacon wrapped jalapenos and last, but not least...

...Frank's snobby pears with a side of maple bacon ice cream. Yep, you heard it right, bacon ice cream.

It was divine.

We also had the formal 'moment of silence', the strutting contest, the recipe contest, and the largest group photo we have ever taken.

Pictures will be forthcoming from most of the events. My many thanks to everyone who participated.

[Lily Alexander]

Baconfest Buffalo was a combination of events, Baconfest and a WNY-haunters gathering. Unfortunately we were long gone on the road to read William's post so forget about following any of the traditions. Sorry William, maybe next year. Oh wait, tradition no. 3 was observed.

First, our event began at 3:30 in TGI Friday's. Our choices were very limited but we made the best of it by ordering side dishes of bacon. The folks at Friday's were great and not only brought out bacon slices but bacon bits as well so if someone ordered something without it, we just put it on ourselves. Needless to say, we had plenty of potato skins loaded with bacon, bacon cheeseburgers, and various other pork products.

Next we ventured off to several area haunted attractions in which we got lost in the catacombs, rode an elevator to Hell, pushed into a bottomless pit, attacked by an 8 ft. werewolf and chased by teenagers carrying chain saws. As our evening was winding down, our traditional birthday cake loaded with black frosting (that happens to turn everyones teeth green) was served along with much tequila, beer and woodchuck cider.

A good time was had by all and we're looking forward to Baconfest XVI.

[William Brand]

Ahhh, excellent. I can't wait to hear from the others about their experience.

Here is a photo of us in the Tavern. All 46 attendees...

I explain the finer points of Baconfest...

And later, Mike explains the finer points of fencing...

[Capt. Bo of the WTF co.]

Always late... but our Baconfest was on time! We being hillbilly White Trash and all, there was no internet access at our site, and cell phones are banned at our gatherings. The first White Trash Mid-West Baconfest went off without any hitches. No photos either, sorry!

We had originally accounted for nine of our fifteen WTF members, and then two more showed up after they declared a previous engagemnet "really sucked" and left it to come on over. Then, two Missouri Conservation Dept. agents were driving by checking on some nearby conservation areas for illegal activity, so we "press ganged" them to come on up to the barn and eat with us. They really had a good time, but turned us down on the Rum and English Dark Ale and just had some coffee.

We had a Bacon\cheese\tater casserole dish, two big slabs of home-made bacon fried up, somewhere around twenty pounds of fresh catfish and crappie filets, ten pounds of fried 'taters, and some Venison Filet Mignon. I forget the name of the English ale that Catfish Calvin brought, but it was darn good! We had three kinds of rum, and some cheap headache beer that I stay away from religiously!

Now we know more about it and next year will be more organized and WTF is already planning to improve!

Later... Bo

[William Brand]

Bo, my fellow brother in bacon, any Baconfest where you can recruit two Conservation Deptartment agents while they are just driving by should be considered a resounding success. A very good first year turnout. I believe you had as many in attendance as we did our first year. Perhaps more. I'll have to dig out the old records.

[Silkie McDonough]

Well then I suppose a report on Baconfest East is in order.

Attendance was light but I have a small home so that was in fact a good thing. & of us in total. Steev of the Wetlanders joined the Flatlanders in New Jersey. It was a mellow affair with some very tired attendees.

The menu was as follows:

Appetizers of bacon wrapped scallions

Bacon cheese burgers and dogs

Green beans with bacon

Sweet & sour bacon spinach salad

Corn bread

It doesn't sound like much but was a feast for 7 people.

The company and conversation was supurb! I thank all who attended and look forward to having the same guests return each year!

[Capt. Bo of the WTF co.]

HOY! I forgot we had cornbread too! Two kinds are always available at a WTF event; Southern style,(no sugar); Yankee style,(with sugar); and this year we added a new recipe with honey. Mighty good!

Bo

[Morgan Dreadlocke]

Fer the pleasure of Purveyours de porke'

I only steal the best fer me mates