RECAP: BaconFest 2016

Hey readers,

What were you doing the Saturday afternoon before Easter Sunday? Well, if your plans didn't include attending BaconFest 2016 hosted by Dad's Garage, then you truly missed out on one of the BEST annual events to be offered in Atlanta each year! If you've never been to or heard of Dad's Garage, here's a little FYI rundown for you: they're a non-profit, heavily volunteer-led organization that showcases and produces innovative and original scripted productions and improv shows all year round. In addition to being around for more than 20 years, many of their works have been locally, nationally and internationally recognized and supported by the Atlanta Foundation, The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund and Creative Loafing to name a few. For the past eight years, Dad's Garage has hosted its porky fundraiser as means of bringing in funds to support their upcoming performances and more for the year. I speak for all Atlantans when I say that we're just simply awesome in that we're all very community-driven and get a great sense of pleasure  and pride when we see one another succeed and thrive, which is why the South is undoubtedly known for their hospitality. Plus, it doesn't hurt that there's TONS (literally 2,500+ pounds) of crispy bacon and beer involved, as well as a wide array of hysterical entertainment, music, food and fun involved either! And hey, if you're as lucky as I am, you may just run into one of your best friend's grandma dressed in the craziest bacon get up you've ever seen on a 76-year-old with phallic bacon strips painted on both sides of her cheek (this ACTUALLY happened, no joke!). Convinced that you shouldn't miss out on next year's event yet? I would hope not! Here's my coverage of last year's event: BaconFest ATL 2015-Enjoy!

Let's get started:

☆New Home of BaconFest

☆ENTER HERE

☆Pre-BaconFest Storm

☆The CW 69's Adult Coloring Fun

☆Bacon & Chips

☆Ready to dig in?!

☆Bacon Mac 'N Cheese

☆Close-up shot

☆BLT Heaven 

☆Corndogski from Pallookaville

☆Sanitary Smooches ft. Blondie from Clermont Lounge

☆Fortune Telling

☆Kickapoo Juice-absolutely delicious!

☆Beer+Bacon = OH YEAH!

☆Crowd Shot

☆Balcony Shot

☆BaconFest Marching Band Dressed to the Nines!

Man oh man! Just when I thought that last year's event couldn't be topped, BF2016 absolutely blew my mind away! Although the weather wasn't as ideal this time around, the wet and windy day certainly didn't interfere with any of the festivities planned nor did it deter festival goers from attending this annual PORK-A-LICIOUS event! Unlike previous years where BaconFest was held at Dad's Garage's former location at The Masquerade, this year's event took place at their newest, standalone location on Ezzard Street in Old Fourth Ward. Personally, I thought it was pretty bada$$ and the perfect place to host BaconFest. BF participants were granted the opportunity to check out the  digs of the newest location and do a complete walk-thru. The first floor had an information booth, plenty of classic arcade games such as Street Fighters and an awesome bacon-themed photo booth session courtesy of the Snapbox Photo Booths. Meanwhile, on the second floor, hilarious shows were taking place in their new theatre, with plenty of seating available for festival-goers to either drop by and watch a show or to take a break from walking around, while also getting their laughs on. On to the food, you can bet that there was certainly NO shortage of bacon whatsoever! I mean, there were definitely a few times I considered face planting into the bacon mountains every time I'd go and get my bacon refill. Lucky for ya'll, I didn't, but I really wanted to! Food vendors, sponsors and festival games lined the streets and parking lots in their white tents. Most of the games took place in one parking lot, while the food vendors/food trucks and sponsor tents lined the adjacent area, which I certainly appreciated since this setup was neatly organized and kept the lines moving much quicker than in the past. One thing I noticed about the food this year was that participating restaurants no longer competed in the bacon challenge, which meant saying "sayonara" to the complimentary bites that were offered in 2015. To make up for this, BaconFest 2016 offered attendees tasty BLTs, bacon mac 'n cheese, bacon & chips and "straight up" bacon instead, while all of the other vendors had items for purchase for a small fee. While this surprised me a bit since I was really looking forward to seeing the porky creations that each restaurant could come up with for the bacon challenge, I ended up really liking all of the food options that BF offered. To say the least, I definitely had AT LEAST 2 BLTs, 2 trays of bacon mac 'n cheese (SO warm & cheesy!) and at least 2-3 trays of just bacon & you better believe I consumed every last bite! And to top it off, I couldn't resist ordering a Pallookaville corn dog, so I did just that and noshed on it while watching a funny "Strip Club, Yacht or Horse" trivia show on the main stage! If you weren't eating, then you were definitely drinking one of the many brews provided by Sierra Nevada and participating in very weird, yet strangely exhilarating games and activities such as human foosball, sanitary smooches with Clermont Lounge's Blondie, flip cup, face painting and wheelchair olympics to name a few! There was something for everyone to do! Additionally, just like last year, BF brought back the art scavenger hunt, which is essentially a hunt for free art made by local Atlanta artists. In light of the occasion, many of these free art pieces were bacon-themed and hidden at various spots on the festival grounds. While I wasn't as lucky as I was the previous year since there were so many fellow hunters grabbing these pieces up at lightning speed, I was able to grab 2 amazing pieces, both of which I ended up gifting to two of my girlfriends. Despite not being much of a beer drinker, the food, quirky games and thrilling scavenger hunt make this event one of the BEST multi-faceted, food-themed festivals to attend each year! Overall, I had a fantastic Easter Saturday afternoon at BaconFest stuffing my face with piles of oh-so-crispy bacon and more! If you've never attended BaconFest, then I'd highly suggest you prepare for BF 2017 the moment the dates are announced because it's a CAN'T MISS EVENT that not only supports all of the amazing accomplishments that Dad's Garage & crew has achieved over the past 2 decades, but it just goes to show that the "South does it BETTER....ALWAYS!" Just one last note before wrapping up, thank you to Matt & the Dad's Garage team for hosting yet another, wildly successful BaconFest and for the bringing the Atlanta community together as always! I'm stoked for next year's event already!

Have a wonderful day,

-Sandy

FTC: Although this was a media event and my ticket was comped, I will always provide an honest review & experience of the event.

If you'd like to invite Bella Vivre to cover & share your media events, tastings or parties, feel free to shoot me an email at bellavivere {at} gmail {dot} com-Thanks!