12th annual Baconfest held at Potawatomi Casino Hotel

 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Thousands of bacon lovers are home tonight after filling up on their favorite food. The 12th annual Baconfest MKE had something for everyone.

The sweet, the savory and the sizzle, dazzling the taste buds of some 1,800 attendees.

"It's not just pure bacon that you're taking in - you're getting some sweet from like a cookie or a pastry that somebody has, you have a little bit of spicy. There's jalapeno popper bites with bacon in them," said Patrick Nienow, 102.9 The Hog Marketing Director.

Patrick Nienow's the marketing director for 102.9 FM The Hog which brought Baconfest back to Potawatomi Casino in Milwaukee this year.

"People are excited about this. We definitely had a lot of people that have come to every single Bacon Fest," said Nienow.

An excited crowd paid a little extra for the VIP seating the opened a half hour before general admission.

"They're rattling the cages to get in so they're all very excited and as soon as everybody gets in, they're just ready to eat," said Nienow.

Just walking into the room, a tasty aroma takes over your senses.

"You do get a lot of that smokiness from the actual bacon smell that comes from the 900 pounds of bacon that Patrick Cudahy and Farmland are providing," said Nienow.

It's slices of bacon, plus so much more from over 30 vendors who put out some interesting creations.

"Bacon fat popcorn, bacon pizza, bacon sliders. I think we have some bacon stuffing balls that I'm excited to try, but we do have a couple of vendors that also do snacks and they're incorporating bacon into you know rice crispy treats or candy bacon, so it really just runs the gamut," said Nienow.

And people here say all of that is "bacon them crazy" for bacon!

"There's just something so satisfying about that, and I don't know what it is, maybe it hits all of the taste buds in a different way, but yeah, it's really good," said Nienow.

At the end of the day, how many calories or fat was consumed is anybody's guess, and maybe you don't want to go there.

"Not that I'm aware of and don't know that I'd want to see it because I feel like it might scare off some people for next year," said Nienow.

So don't be salty if you missed it. The event's expected to return next year, again during the last week of February. And that's a wrap from Baconfest MKE.