Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival |
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|---|---|
| Genre | Bacon |
| Date(s) | Saturday |
| Begins | 10am |
| Ends | 4pm |
| Frequency | Annual |
| Location(s) | Des Moines, Iowa |
The Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival is a super popular yearly event held in Des Moines, Iowa. It was started by a group called the Iowa Bacon Board. The very first festival in 2008 sold 200 tickets. Today, this amazing bacon celebration welcomes about 14,000 bacon fans! People who buy tickets can join a bacon-eating contest, learn cool facts about bacon from talks, and try different kinds of bacon from sellers. The festival even takes its bacon fun around the world with the Blue Ribbon Bacon Tour.
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What Happens at the Bacon Festival?
When you buy a ticket, you usually get a T-shirt, a choice of bacon samples, and a koozie. A koozie is a special cover that keeps your drink cold. The festival also has interesting talks about bacon. You can watch or join a bacon-eating contest. Plus, there are live music performances by different entertainers.
Changes to Bacon Samples
In 2012, something big changed. Before that year, your ticket included all the bacon you could eat! But then, they started charging extra for bacon items. This was done to make the lines shorter for the food sellers. Now, bacon items from vendors usually cost between $3 and $8, on top of your ticket price.
How the Bacon Festival Started
The Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival began in 2008. It was started by Brooks Reynolds, who is a realtor (someone who helps people buy and sell homes) in Iowa. The first festival happened on National Pig Day, March 1, 2008.
Festival Growth Over the Years
The festival started small, with 200 people in 2008. In 2009, 300 people came. By 2010, all 600 tickets sold out in just 30 minutes! That year, they served about 30,000 strips of bacon. That's about 50 strips for each person! The total weight of the bacon was 1,200 pounds. The next year, in 2011, all 1,500 tickets were gone in only 4 minutes!
Festival Themes Each Year
Every year, the Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival has a fun and unique theme. Here are some of the past themes:
| Year | Theme |
|---|---|
| 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 |
The "State of Bacon" Film
In 2013, the Iowa Bacon Board worked with a company called Digital Cuvée. This company was started by Jason Cook. They decided to make a movie called State of Bacon. The festival was the main part of the story. The film is a "mockumentary," which is like a fake documentary. It uses actors to show the funny and wild world of the Bacon Wonderland.
The Blue Ribbon Bacon Tour
Some of the entertainers who worked at the festival decided to create the Blue Ribbon Bacon Tour. This tour takes the bacon fun to other cities. For example, Heather Lauer was part of the 2009 tour stop in Pittsburgh. There, for thirty dollars, people could join a bacon-eating contest. They could also taste different bacon samples from sellers without paying extra. Before joining this tour, Heather Lauer wrote a book called Bacon: A love story.
