If you go
What: Weekend of Fire
Where: The Oscar Event Center at Jungle Jim's International Market, 5440 Dixie Highway, Fairfield
When: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. today
Cost: $5 in advance, $7 at the door, children younger than 6 free
More info: Visit www.junglejims.com/weekendoffire
FAIRFIELD — There was a large amount of people in Fairfield with runny noses and watering eyes Saturday, but it wasn’t because of the cold weather.
They were tasting some of the most fiery sauces in the nation at the fifth annual Weekend of Fire, and some took the now-functional monorail from the BBQ Alley food vendors outside to get there.
Conducted at the Oscar Event Center at Jungle Jim’s, crowds visited 50 booths to try sauces and meat rubs from such vendors as Wicked Cactus Sauce and Kentucky’s Smokin’ Grill. Captain Thom’s event had the captain himself, pictured on some of the labels, autographing posters.
The growing Weekend of Fire event is in its fifth year.
“It’s always nice,” said Kathy Gail of Wilmington, whose family has attended the festival every year since its conception. “Each year they do something a little different and a little better.”
Gail’s husband Christopher, son Andrew and granddaughter Brianna formed a three-generation contingent in one of the eight contests held in the Bugsicle Eating Contest, which required contestants to eat a bowl of fried meal worms and crickets before devouring a lollipop containing another worm.
Andrew finished second in the competition, but it was Brianna, 9, who most enjoyed the bug delicacy.
“I got used to eating the meal worms,” Brianna said. “I love meal worms.”
Her grandfather, Christopher, was more succinct.
“It was a lot of fun,” he said. “(The bugs) are just crunchy.”
John Dilley, owner of Defcon Sauces in Millburn, N.J., has traveled to the extravaganza for the past five years. Defcon has one of the most vibrant exhibit booths at the show, with strobe lights and metal decor to emphasize the product’s fierce taste.
“It’s a fun show,” Dilley said. “It’s our fifth year and it’s one of the biggest shows we do.”
“There’s been some tears and abject pain,” he said of some of the guests visiting his booth.
“We’re having a blast,” said Jim Beckett, specialty food manager for Jungle Jim’s and emcee of the event. “We’re filling every competition and we’re going to smash every record we’ve had.”
The popularity of the event even forced Jungle Jim’s to expand its BBQ Alley feature to outside the event center, Beckett said.
“We’ve started to eke outside,” Beckett said. “We can’t contain it in (Oscar Event Center) much longer. There’s no room.”
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