That's right, Bacon Fest; you read the title correctly. It's a festival for bacon and all of it's goodness. This beautiful thing happens in Albuquerque, New Mexico at the Balloon Fiesta park. I gathered from clues that this year (2015) was the 3rd annual year of bacon fest. I hope this keeps going on annually. There was a lot do to while at the festival!
This Fest included 50 chefs, 15 breweries, and four bands.This means there was a lot of stuff to see and try. Every brewery there had some kind of bacon themed beer or drink. There was even bacon soda for none beer drinkers! For the purpose of saving money, I didn't try any of the drinks but I asked a few people what they thought and they all loved them.
If beer isn't your think do not worry! You can go for the food! Can you believe there were 50 different food vendors?! This festival covers lunch/dinner food (the hours were 10am-5pm) to baked goods to candy.
The photos below are of a tent with the logo "Life is short. Eat pie." They had normal pies as well as bacon pies for the brave bacon lovers.
There was a place called "Cake Fetish" so one would think they would have any cake related item imaginable. FALSE! Sadly they didn't have any funnel cake. Thank goodness there was a funnel cake tent a few tents down. Speaking of funnel cakes these funnel cakes were $5, which sets a new cheapest record for the events we've been to! A family was selling them with their own personal recipe, which was quite good. The other pictures below are of the many different vendors you can find at the bacon fest.
Help homeless pizza!
Yes, those are cookies with bacon in them...
There were many competitions at the fest, to include a bacon poem session, bacon eating contest, and a "H.O.G." contest where people showed off their motorcycles. There were many wonderful mini events as well as free bacon games and face painting.
The bacon eating contest winner! It was the girl; they guy was still chewing when he stood up (which is against the rules, though she is licking her fingers haha)
Imagine you brought your kids but didn't want to drag them everywhere because they would just complain while you tried all the different beers... or the different foods. Well, the festival has a solution! Bouncy castles, and a lot of them. It probably wouldn't be a good idea to leave your kids alone, but they nevertheless had bouncy castles for kids and even a tiny fire truck train thing to drive around the festival.
They had live music at the festival, with four different bands playing including Alex Maryol, Soul Kitchen, Raven and the Sweet Potato Pie Band, and Bosque Blues. The only band I didn't hear was the Bosque Blues because I left before they played.
My favorite of the three that I did hear was Alex Maryol. He has a very unique style which sounds like a mix between Rock and Folk. Imagine mixing Jack Johnson and Jet together. When I first heard him at the Bacon Fest, he was playing a cover of Frank Sinatra's "I Love You Baby." It was a faster tempo and had a more upbeat feel, so when I finally recognized the song I wanted to listen to his music more. I was lucky enough to be able to meet and chat with him for a little bit, and he is a really nice guy! I asked if I could take a picture with him for my blog and he did so much better than that. He offered me his CD of second album entitled "Six" so that I can get a better feel for his music and tell you guys what I think. I must say that I enjoy that CD very much! According to his album case, he wrote every song except for one called "Elephant Tears." My very favorite of the album is "Other Man", followed closely by "Lovey Dovey." I highly recommend checking out his website http://alexmaryol.com/ and his music. Here is a YouTube video of "Other Man":
According to Pandora he is in the same music field as Swampcandy, The Smiling Strangers, and Dan Sheridan.
I really liked how he took time out of his show to talk to the people and answer any questions they had.
When you sign up for his email list he will send you a couple of free songs, so sign up =]
My one regret of the Bacon Fest was not asking Alex Maryol to autograph the cover to his CD!
Time for the expense report.
Just get in Ticket: $7
Bacon Ticket: $25 (sold out fast...like before noon...) The bacon ticket gets you in and gives you tickets which you can trade for bacon goods and beer in the festival. (I got the normal ticket)
Funnel Cake: $5
Total: $12
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