This four-year-old, curiously-themed celebration of all things "baconic", which started with a few hundred people in a couple of downtown bars, has now grown to the point that organizers have doubled last year's capacity to 8000 tickets for the February 2013 event that will fill two buildings at the State Fair grounds. Given the fact that those 8000 tickets, which went on sale yesterday -- 12/12/12 at, of course, 12:12 p.m. -- sold out in exactly four minutes, organizers are already brainstorming ways to accommodate the fattening interest.
Let me just repeat here the basics: this is a festival about bacon.
All things bacon.
Bacon on a stick. Bacon in a cupcake. Bacon on a cracker. Bacon in a brownie. You name it, you can probably get it from one or another of the booths filling the space selling samples of the fruits of their culinary porcine imaginations.
Bacon.
8000 tickets sold in 4 minutes. At $35 a pop -- which gets you a T-shirt, a beer Koozie, a few samples, and the opportunity to buy more from the restaurants who have set up booths there with bacon-inspired delectables. Oh, and don't let me forget the "Bacon Educational Lectures" that will be offered. You'll want to get in line for those early because I'm sure those are a real draw -- kind of like how the "serious" articles are the real reason people buy Playboy Magazine.
Like I said, I don't get it. The area has plenty of entertainment options -- concerts, Broadway plays, local theatre, the full range of athletic contests at the high school, college and professional levels, parks to walk in, lakes to boat in, organized farm visits that afford the opportunity to "shake the hand of the farmer who feeds you", multiform houses of worship, charity walks, challenging runs... There isn't a shortage of things to do. But my guess is that except for an occasional Taylor Swift or Bruce Springsteen concert, none of those events are selling out their capacities in 4 minutes.
So what's the sense to make of it? The economy is supposedly struggling. Money is allegedly tight. You know, hard times all over. Add to that the renewed emphasis on healthy eating. The Governor has even "weighed in", so to speak, with a highly touted "Healthy Iowa Initiative", and I'm guessing that bacon doesn't play much of a role in those plans. Exercise, vegetables, portion control, fewer sugary drinks. Maybe bacon appears somewhere in the fine print, but I doubt it.
Now don't get me wrong. I'm a big fan of bacon. All the fat notwithstanding, I could eat my weight in it (but just for the record, in case my Doctor is reading, I don't...ever...eat my weight in it. Quite.) But as much of an appetite as I can work up for the tasty little strips, I'm not cuing up my browser to score one of those limited tickets.
Maybe it's for the "charity work" supported by the event (though I'm betting not 3 people in the room that day could tell you what that is). Maybe it is just for the totally absurd fun of it all in the midst of what routinely is a dismal time of year. Maybe it is a covert strategy to boost the oft-maligned Iowa pork industry. Maybe it is somehow, abstractly, tied to the same subterranean affections that rose up in such loud and epic lament for the demise of Hostess Twinkies and Ho-Ho's.
Who knows? And, frankly, who cares? Ticket holders will no doubt have a festive time, and I'm sure there will be plenty of napkins on hand to wipe the grease off their fingers and chins. As for me, I'll just curl up with the dog and a good book, and enjoy the winter day.
After our own humble breakfast of bacon and eggs.
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