Sun City Bacon Festival

I’m torn with this one. I LOVE seeing new (or borrowed) ideas in El Paso and Baconfest was a great one, but I HATE seeing poor, rushed execution. If this does truly become an annual event I’d love to see a whole lot more thought go into Baconfest and what it actually is. I’m glad I went because I do enjoy supporting events like this and showing that there is an interest for such an event in the area. Next year I would like to see a whole lot more.
One of the biggest issues I had with this event was the vagueness. There was no website set up for Baconfest… sure they posted an article about it on the KLAQ website, but there was really no where for anyone to really find answers to some pretty important questions (i.e. What time is this event over?). They had a Facebook event page set up, but not a Facebook page and again it didn’t answer any real questions people might have. The markup basically said: The event starts at 11 AM, there will be bacon, there will be a costume contest, and there will be a hog calling contest. It didn’t tell you what time the event was over, if you could bring pets (it turned out you couldn’t, but since that wasn’t blatantly apparent I did see many dogs at the event), how do you enter the contests, what time are the contests at, who’s bringing the bacon, what different variations of bacon will there be, what other vendors will be at the event, and what kind of just-​for-​fun things will be at this event? Finishing this review would just be easiest by answering those questions… so here goes.
What time is the event over?
5 PM. There were even vendors that were asking patrons what time the event was over. Literally no one knew.
Can you bring pets?
They said ‘no’, but they didn’t have anyone manning any of the access points or security for that matter so do as you please. I regret not bringing my little Charlie because she truly believes bacon is LIFE.
How do you enter the contests?
This still isn’t incredibly clear to me, but it had to be done at the event (yup, there was no online form to sign up anywhere). I’m actually assuming it was either at the stage or at the Baconfest tent selling shirts.
What time are the contests?
Whenever they call them over the speakers on the stage so stay close to the stage if you’re trying to enter something. The contests I saw only had about four people in them so chances of winning are high!
Who’s bringing the bacon?
They literally never released a complete list of vendors. The only thing they listed were the restaurants that actually fell inside the bounds of the event. No duh! They had «VIP» available at The Garden that included three different bacon starters and two drinks (very vague though… what kind of bacon starters and drinks?). There were actually quite a few foodtrucks at the event like Sweet Addiction, Crave, and Sloppy Seconds that received absolutely no recognition or promotion prior to the event.
What different variations of bacon will there be?
Nope, they never even told you if Crave was just making regular bacon or bacon wrapped shrimp. They were making bacon wrapped shrimp (which was my favorite). There was also chocolate covered bacon (two different varieties… the price on one was a little high though), bacon sugar cookies, pork belly hush puppies, caramel bacon cashew marshmallow praline, waffle bacon, bacon pizza, bacon sushi, BLT sushi rolls, pork belly on a stick and more.
What other vendors will there be?
Not many unfortunately and the vendors that didn’t have a bacon product didn’t even do anything bacon related. Are you kidding me?! Can I get some bacon costumes or something? There was one vendor selling salsa. They were also giving samples, they could’ve easily served their salsa samples on top of a small slice of bacon. There was a lady selling body wraps… we’re at Baconfest, we don’t care about our figure right now. I think at most there was six other vendors, but they didn’t even seem that involved in the event.
What kind of just-​for-​fun things will be at the event?
Other than the free photobooth, nothing. Literally, nothing. Sadly it was just a lot of shuffling from one long line to the next. I would’ve liked to see some game booths, a jumping balloon for kids, a bacon mascot that people would’ve tried to take pictures with… anything that could’ve broken up the lines a little bit and enticed me to stay after having my fill of bacon related products. It just felt like if you weren’t eating bacon, it was time to go.
Again, I’ll go next year… I would just like to see more organization, not something that someone slapped together. There really is no excuse. It may have been executed in a month, but it could’ve been done better and honestly, the rush to do it in a month was their own… the El Paso community was not demanding this event be done NOW so the sloppiness falls on the heads of the event organizers.

I’m really excited that we had a bacon festival in El Paso, it was long overdue, and I hope it becomes a tradition that improves every year… And that’s the crux of my rating, there needs to be A LOT of improvement. I know I wasn’t the only person to not know what to expect and yet still managed to feel disappointed.
Don’t get me wrong, there were highlights, but they seemed few and far between. It was exciting to see local businesses get behind the event and whip up their bacon creations, my favorites were Dark Horse’s Pork Belly Hush Puppies and Tumbleweed’s 3 little piggies: bacon and ham wrapped sausage, seriously awesome stuff.
Unfortunately they definitely did not know how many people to expect, and many, many vendors ran out of goodies quickly, and because the lines were long, it wasn’t easy to try everything. At first I was happy that admission was free, but I realize that only exacerbated the problem of availability, maybe it’s best to sell tickets and let vendors know how many people to expect and give out free samples instead of charging.
Once they started running out of stuff, the best thing to do was go to the food trucks, which I feel I can do on a different day without dealing with the massive crowd. To their credit, seating was surprisingly available considering the large number of attendees.
By no means do I need someone to hold my hand and guide me through the event, but there was an overwhelming lack of structure, it was just show up and get in line, pay, and get in line again, give me some games or something. At other festivals you get the chance to learn a little about the vendors, what they make, and what they’re about, none of the vendors I visited did any more than just sell me what they were selling, no «hey we’re so-​and-​so, we are located at., and we make this kind of food, but for today our chef made X and here’s a flyer that tells you more with a coupon, come check us out!» At events like this I would rather be shepherded a little than just be thrown into a pen left to fend for myself.
Lastly, I hope they just plan a little more thoroughly for the next one. The event coincided with a Chihuahuas game, which sounds cool, until you face the parking and traffic nightmares. Additionally, most of the vendors, and even the VIP area, were cash only, which is cool, except there was only 1 ATM within walking distance, and of course, it was broken. I wish they had more thoroughly communicated what to expect, nobody was sure at what time the event would wrap up, for example.
At the end of the day, it wasn’t all doom and gloom, I mean, we’re eating bacon for crying out loud. I hope that, should any organizer read this, they do not take my feedback personally or as empty complaining, my intent is to provide constructive criticism to help improve future events. Should there be a second bacon fest I will still be excited to attend and hopefully the organizers will learn from this year and make it better.