Beer, bacon and fun

Are you tired of staying in your house all day, just to shield yourself from the cold air outside? Are you ready to go out and have some fun while you sample some beers and try some wonderful bacon dishes like a bacon tater-tot hot dish, candy-covered bacon, or rice crispy bars with smoked gouda and bacon? If so, then come on out to Bernie’s Wine & Liquors’ Bacon & Beer Festival.

This year will be the fourth year of the Bacon and Beer Festival at the Scheels Arena, and will consist of many of the attractions from years before, as well as many new ones. There will also be new and returning local restaurants participating, as usual. This year some of the returning restaurants included in the bacon creations will be the Toasted Frog and Luna.

New beer samples from Flatland Brewery will also be present at this year’s festival. The event will be held on March 4, from 6 to 9pm for general admission tickets.

This festival is centered around the 20 local restaurants that volunteer to make bacon dishes for the event. According to Shelby Sachs, the coordinator from Jade Presents which is hosting the event, each restaurant that volunteers is given locally made Cloverdale bacon, and then the restaurant gets to make whatever they want with it and submit it to the festival.

Sachs said that Jade Presents wants the event to be a place where people can come together and try delicious bacon dishes and sample beers that they don’t see in every store.

“This isn’t going to be an event where you sit down and eat a plate of stuff,” Sachs said. Instead you will be sampling many different things and enjoying a true culinary experience.

The way that the festival works is that they send out a restaurant’s bacon dish so that everyone can try it and then they send out a few different beers to sample along with it. This way you aren’t overwhelmed by the choices all at once and can try things at your own pace.

This year they have about 38 breweries signed up to host the event which is five more breweries than last year. This means that there will be over 100 beers to sample from throughout the night.

Something else new about this year is that the festival will only be held once. In the past years the festival has consisted of two sessions, but this year everyone involved decided to cut it down to only one session because it can be quite a long day for everyone, including the restaurants that have to close for business that day.

Jade Presents simply wanted to make the event better for the local community, including these restaurants. Shelby Sachs said that the event is really all about the community, as everything is local and they depend upon the people in the community to attend, enjoy and continue returning, to keep the festival running.

There will be many attractions throughout the night to enjoy while you wait for your next sample of beer or bacon dish. For example, the mechanical pig will be returning from last year. So pick up your cowboy boots and show that pig who’s boss.

But that isn’t all. There will also be games to play and a bacon eating contest. Each of the five participants will get about three pounds of bacon placed in front of them and they will have five minutes to eat as much of that bacon as they can, either including the grease or not. Last year’s winner, Peter Smith, will be participating again, to defend his title and gain bragging rights and a year’s supply of bacon.

Finally, there is a vote for best bacon and best brewery that festival-goers will participate in. So when you go to this event, make sure you keep tabs on what your favorite bacon dish and beer selection are so that you can give the restaurant and the brewery a chance to win the huge trophy.

IF YOU GO

Saturday, March 4, 6-9pm

Scheels Arena, 5225 31st Ave S, Fargo

$35 advance, $40 day-of-event, 21+