Organizers say Bacon Fest will be even more baconey this year.
There will be more bacon and more roaming room at the event to be held Sunday, Aug. 17, at Lincoln Park and the Fraze Pavilion, 695 Lincoln Park Blvd., Kettering.
“It is local, independent restaurants that are participating, which is pretty cool,” said Amy Zahora, executive director of the Miami Valley Restaurant Association. “Everybody loves bacon. It always has been a hot thing.”
Admission is free to the festival that starts at 2 p.m. and will wrap up at about 10 p.m.
Sixteen restaurants will participate in the event compared to 12 last year.
Six restaurants are new to this year’s event — Marion’s Pizza, Hickory River Smokehouse, Kowalski’s Hots, Zetland Street, Figlio and Giovanni’s Pizzeria e Ristorante Italiano.
The festival is the result of a partnership between the Fraze, a City of Kettering-owned entertainment venue, and the Restaurant Raiders, a monthly foodie group associated with the Miami Valley Restaurant Association that supports local restaurants.
Lured by the power of the bacon, about 14,000 people attended last year’s inaugural Bacon Fest.
Organizers said most people showed up within the first 90 minutes. Attendees complained about long lines, and food shortages at some vendor stations. Some said they could not spend food tickets as the result.
Food tickets have been eliminated as a result of feedback from attendees.
“It will be pay as you go,” Zahora said.
Dishes will be sold for $3 to $6 each.
Everybody will have something (to sell) for $3,” she said. “It is a cool festival. People get to try bacon in a lot of different ways.”
To address congestion concerns, the event will use a large area of Lincoln Park and music acts will perform on the Fraze stage.
“We are using the whole (Lincoln Park and Fraze) footprint and some of the street,” she said. “Everybody will have plenty of food.”
Can’t make Bacon Fest at the Fraze?
Zahora is planning Bacon Fest Cincinnati on National Bacon Day. The first-time event is set for noon to 10 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 30 at Coney Island Amusement Park, 6201 Kellogg Ave, Cincinnati. Nine vendors have signed on to participate.
Contact this blogger at arobinson@DaytonDailyNews.com or Twitter.com/DDNSmartMouth
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