My time at Portland Baconfest 2010

Portland Baconfest
1800 E. Burnside
Portland, Oregon
Portland OR 97214
August 21, 2010

The Portland Baconfest is not a restaurant, but an annual event that was started last year by Emily Gibson, who used to host her own show about meat called The Meat Show, which was a combination of Gibson's speedy rants and stories, but showed a true dedication for all that is meat and those who make a profit from anything meat-related. It's that humor and spirit that lead her to be a guest on a podcast called Portland Sucks starring Robert Wagner and Sabrina Miller. When asked what Gibson would like to do next with her show, Gibson casually stated that she'd like to have a festival of bacon on the Portland waterfront every summer. Wagner said something to the effect of "like a Baconfest". Boom. The first Portland Baconfest in 2009 was enough of a success that they were moved to do it again.

The Baconfest is sponsored by PDX.fm, an online channel that features specialized shows dedicated to a wide range of original topics, some covered with humor, others quite serious. It's a channel that Gibson now calls home, and through her hard work and determination, "the next Baconfest" was something that was never far from her thoughts. I attended this year's Baconfest, and considering how much fun people were having, it will be around for a long time.

So what exactly is a Baconfest, or in this case, the Portland Baconfest? As with any festival, it's a celebration of all that is bacon, a food that has seen its share of superhype and public concert over the last two decades. In this case, the Baconfest shines the spotlight on bacon through selling bacon-related dishes through different food vendors, novelty items that deal with bacon and swine, live bands, and contests.

Live bands included Target for Tomorrow and the Horns of Destruction and The KOS, the latter of which featured a special appearance from "Bacon Man", a man dressed up like a slice of bacon and danced. He really seemed to enjoy the song about passing out drunk on a bathroom floor.


The parents of the drummer also doubled as roadies. When vocalist/guitarist John Ko wrapped his guitar cord around his brother's (bassist Stank Ko) microphone stand, Daddy Monahan moved up front and untangled the cord. As for the music, they mixed up rock and punk covers with originals. Sometimes they were on the money, other times they weren't, in fact in a few of the covers, Ko simply muttered gibberish in place of the actual lyrics. But that was fun, and I stood there the entire time enjoying what they did.

There were a number of Baconfest tournaments such as a bacon toss, a bacon eat-off, and a bacon mile, where people got onto a stationary bike and ate bacon. They had to be able to ride fast enough to burn up that bacon.

Then there were the food vendors. What I looked forward to trying was Mobster Meatballs, after hearing about them in a review at Food Carts Portland.

I went to wait in line after The KOS' set was over, and I waited for what felt like half an hour, and maybe it was more like 20 minutes. One was able to watch the meatball process, and in this case a Baconfest special meatball involving pork and bacon.

Then they were cooked up slow and easy, and you had the option of having it with Indian masala, country gravy, or marinara, in either sandwich form or just a small tray of meatballs (I chose the sandwich option, with Indian masala as my sauce). Everything was nice, the masala wasn't weak or too strong. I will visit their food cart in time.


Since this was a 21 and over event (the event was co-hosted by The Eastburn, the side street of which was where the Baconfest was held), there were drinks to be had, everything from bacon vodka to beer, and even bacon bloody mary's.



Plate of bacon? You could have them at 2 strips for a dollar. You want 10 strips? Give up 5 dollars. In another section, a big and tasty thick cut of bacon on a stick. Put them together, and you call that a bacon pop. One of my favorite edible items was the Portland Bacon Roll (maple/bacon/caramel cookie) made by Cookie Pedalers, a company that makes cookies from a pizza oven and delivers them on bicycle in Portland. I ordered two, and to take home to share with family, I bought 20. It's worth buying and ordering, tell everyone.

Another treat was the bacon cupcake from Sugar Buzz Bakery out of Hillsboro, Oregon.


It was a generous amount of bacon placed over maple-flavored frosting, and yes it was great. Cupcakes are generally heavy for me, but this was nice and the "novelty" of having bacon on a cupcake, even with maple bacon doughnuts getting a lot of attention, wears out only because you feel that it's only inevitable, if not natural for these two to unite.

I did spot a truck called Siete Suerte, who serve the same style of bacon-wrapped hot dogs that are very popular in the L.A. area.


I did not try one but a lot of people in the crowd were carrying and eating hot dogs from their cart. What I did try was their bacon cookies, which were delicious. A lady who works at the cart was walking around and asked me if I'd like a cookie, and I said yes. Then I went back. Unfortunately, since the cookies were not placed in a container, I placed it in my backpack. When I returned to my hotel room, the bag was full of cookie crumbs.

To be honest, how could you go wrong? It was a crowd who loved to have fun, and celebrated something as silly as bacon. I mean it's bacon, why the hell not, right? If someone felt it was underwhelming, maybe because they felt it would be as big as, oh, OzzFest. It seemed relatively small and if you expected more, maybe it was not for you. It felt like someone driving down a random street and you ended up at one of the more celebrated places in town.

In truth, the possibilities are endless and could easily become a bigger event if they wanted to. There was a focus on local and regional, for not only did you see various Oregon-related items and products, but even the Skillet Street Food from Seattle came down to sell their incredible Bacon Jam. Or maybe one street could be all food and food carts, the other being where two bands could play at once. This would lead to the question "how big should the Baconfest be?" I think it's the perfect size as is, and I hope it will have continued success in the future.

I attended for two reasons. One, I wanted to go to a festival that celebrated bacon, because I love bacon. Two, I am a huge fan of PDX.fm. I like what they do, and most of the people involved are part of Portland's blogging community, so while one might think "okay, what kind of dumb shit thing is it to honor bacon?", it was a collective of minds, thoughts and opinions everywhere I walked. First person I saw at the entrance was Betsy Richter, who I asked about my donation of canned foods (admission was $5 + 2 cans). When I told her I brought five, she goes "you're not expecting change, are you?" and I laughed. Looking up names and placing wristbands on all attendees was the superfresh Meagan Kate, co-host of the great Love In The Dump Chute show. Throughout the day I would continue to see the faces of those I've heard many times before or may have recognized through various photos on blogs and PDX.fm-related websites: Wagner, Sabrina Miller, Jay Mackin, Kristen Bowie, "Quizmaster" Polly Pospisil, Will Radik, Devlyn Swenson, and Michelle DeFord among others.

Outside of being able to follow them (or not) via Twitter, you still get a sense of community and camaraderie, or at least a sense to do what they feel is right to do, and being able to talk about it, and take action, just as Gibson has. It would be great to be a part of that, and of course to show support, which is what I did. One, I was able to celebrate bacon not only "in my own way", but with everyone, and two, the Oregon Food Bank were the recipient of all of the canned donations. While it's easy to celebrate a piece of meat in a fun way, making it a charitable event is always a plus.

Will there be a Portland Baconfest 2011? I'd like to think there will be Baconfest's until the end of the world, so at least two more years. Maybe in two years, they can have a "Tonight I'm Going To Eat Bacon Like It's 2010" contest. Outside of briefly meeting Richter and Meagan Kate, I didn't get a chance to meet and/or talk with anyone else in the PDX.fm family but thank you not only for organizing a great festival, but in creating quality and many times humorous programming on PDX.fm that has become my daily habit. Everyone looked busy so I didn't want to bug and be all maha'oe, but next year I'll be sure to say hello. I should be thinner in my Bacon (Three Different Ones) shirt.