California · Events · Food and Drink · Illinois · Michigan · Missouri · New Mexico · North America · Ohio · Regions · Travel Miscellany · USA
The 9 best bacon festivals across the US
Bacon & Barrels, Los Olivos and San Diego
Held annually in July in Los Olivos and annually in May in San Diego, Bacon & Barrels brings out 1,700 people and 75+ top chefs, distilleries, wineries and craft beer makers. From bourbon infused with bacon to bacon inspired tacos, the sky is the limit. Wear lose pants and prepare yourself for one epic bacon food coma after attending this festival.
Zingermans Camp Bacon, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Camp Bacon takes loving bacon to a whole new level. Attendees celebrate the history of bacon, bacon-making and bacon art all while listening to music and poems inspired by the meat of the hour bacon!
2014 Bacon Bowl, Bentonville, Arkansas
Chefs and amateur cooks put their creativity to the test during this annual festival. Competing in either the entrée category or the dessert category, the Bacon Bowl is the ultimate bacon show down. Ready, set, bacon!
Baconfest Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
With the festival officially only running for two days, Baconfest Chicago takes the fun a step further with a week of preview events leading up to the big days like a Baconfest Cocktail Kickoff Party, Bacon Cocktail Tour, a Baconfest Past Masters Kickoff Dinner and Neighborhood Bacon Crawls. You can never have too much bacon, can you? Only one way to find out
Beer Wine Food: Bacon Edition, Glendale, Ohio
With all proceeds of this festival going to The Cure Starts Now Foundation, a foundation funding pediatric cancer research, eating bacon has truly never felt so good. Held in Porkopolis, Cincinnatis historic meat processing city-center, theres not much to not like about this beer, wine and bacon themed festival.
Big Bite Bacon Fest, Long Beach, California
Californians take their bacon-eating seriously. Like, next level seriously. With dishes like meatballs wrapped in bacon, bacon donuts, pork belly sandwiches and more, accompanied with craft beer from places like LA-based Angel City brewery, theres a lot of eating and drinking to look forward to at this event.
Hormel Black Label Bacon Fest, San Diego, California
Held on International Bacon Day, you know the folks that run this festival arent messing around. With 20 eateries and 25 breweries serving unlimited tastings, things just might get a little hog-wild.
Southwest Bacon Festival, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Beyond the typical bacon snacking, beer tasting and live music listening that goes on at most bacon festivals, this one raises the bar by also offering bacon eating contests, bacon film screenings, bacon photography, bacon art and bacon poetry contests. Yep, that just about covers everything.
Ozarks Bacon Fest, Springfield, Missouri
If youve ever wondered how much bacon you can eat in two minutes, the Ozarks Bacon Fest has a challenge for you. Their bacon eating contest is definitely not to be missed and a highlight of this day-long festival.
Now that youve gone through the list, which bacon festival are you most excited to attend?
Pure bacon madness. Bacon Sundaes, Miso Bacon Steamed Buns, Chicken Bacon Apple Sausage Sliders and Thai Style Curried Coconut and Bacon Paella all washed down with a Maple Bacon Old Fashion. Thats just the tip of the bacon iceberg when you attend bacon festivals like the first festival on our list, the annual Bacon & Barrels Festival.
Did you enjoy this article?
Receive similar content direct to your inbox.
I love this, Breanna. Bacon is my weakness. I did the BaconChase 0.05k race in Chicago with all-you-can-eat bacon at the finishline. 3 plates of bacon later and a mechanical pig ride, it was bad news. These seem much less athletic.
I went last year to the first annual Bacon Bowl in Fayetteville, AR. And it was delicious! (Mmm, bacon wrapped chicken in white truffle oil…) Can’t wait to go back to this year’s event, which has been moved to Bentonville. Can a person get tired of bacon? Nah!