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New Mexicans love their bacon, and the turnout of nearly 8,000 pork lovers at the Southwest Bacon Fest Saturday demonstrated that nicely.
Some vendors were prepared for the large turnout, but others were not, leading to long waits for some booths, especially the beer vendors. The wait was mitigated by live music and the smells of glorious bacon-based delicacies.
Event organizer Dean Strober of Blue River Productions said he was surprised and pleased by the turnout.
“We told the vendors to expect 4,000 to 5,000 people to attend,” he said.
Andrea Schulte, a baking instructor at Central New Mexico Community College and the owner and pastry chef of New Mexico Pie Company, said she prepared for only 5,000 visitors and ran out of most of her bacon-themed dishes by about 1:30 p.m.
“I had a great location for my booth,” she said. “I bet at least 5,000 people came by.”
Schulte said her most popular dish was the Butterscotch Bourbon Pie with Bacon-infused Cream. The Green Chile Bacon Mini-Quiches also went quickly, she said. The mini-quiches were a perfect size, rich and full of crispy crumbles of bacon, they had a lovely chile heat and a wonderful, flaky crust.
Another popular booth was the Chama River Brewing Co. The staff served BLTs but they weren’t sandwiches. The Bacon, Lager and Tomato Beer combined beer and tomato juice, rimmed with bacon salt. It was delicious, salty and refreshing, perfect for sipping while waiting in line for more treats.
The Smoked Porter was rich and tasty as well. The staff also offered the Three Little Pigs Slider; a Kurobuta bacon patty, Applewood smoked bacon and American cheese served on a bacon green chile cheddar bun.
Gold St. Caffe was another among the favorites. The Green Chile Biscuit BLT Bites were terrific, as was the Red Chile Bacon Chocolate Mousse. The mousse was velvety and saturated with chocolate and bacon flavors, with just the right amount of heat at the finish.
We skipped some of the more fattening offerings, such as deep-fried bacon, but could not resist the Old Windmill Dairy’s Fried Cheese Curds with Bacon. Unctuous and salty, the cheese curds had just enough crisp bacon as a counterpoint to the smooth texture of the cheese.
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Some other attendants showed their reward for a long wait at Kimo’s Hawaiian BBQ: Fresh pineapple wrapped with bacon and fried.
Other events at the Bacon Fest included live music, games for the children and two separate bacon-eating contests. Contestants competed to be the first to finish 18 slices of bacon and a bacon-flavored soda.
New Mexico’s own Chef Rocky Durham, who opened the Santa Fe Culinary Academy last year, was on hand to present a bacon demo, and passed out bacon on a stick, dipped in chocolate and dusted with red chile powder. The bacon and chocolate went together beautifully, and the red chile packed a subtle punch.
UNM heat and air conditioning technician Mike Saunders said he waited in line for nearly half an hour to get into the event and was frustrated by the long lines at some of the vendor booths. He said he enjoyed the treats he was able to get, especially the Bacon Cheddar Sliders from Fat Squirrel Pub and Grille, among a few other tidbits.
“The BLT Beer at Chama River was almost too good to be allowed,” he said. “I’ll give the Bacon Fest another chance next year, but I hope they get the line situation worked out.”
Strober said that he was also frustrated that some people had to stand in line for so long, but that he expects to be ready for next year’s fest. He said he plans on having more staff and volunteers and will make sure vendors are prepared for a large turnout.
He had 12 people on staff this year, in addition to 25 volunteers and is used to running events with a skeleton crew to limit communication difficulties, but now that he knows what kind of numbers to expect, he will streamline the admission process and have more activities scheduled to reduce the time attendees wait in line, he said.
All in all, the event was a success, and should be even better next year, once the inaugural year kinks are worked out.
The delicious foods and drinks were well worth the wait.
