Get ready to pig out at upcoming Bacon Fest
Trending
MCCLURE -- Steve Hoke felt the old McClure Fall Fest was a bit ordinary and needed some meat. The festival was missing something that would give it an identity. With a touch of humor mixed in.
"We wanted something unique, something that wasn't being done anywhere around the area," Hoke added. "We figured that would help it grow. We just came up with the idea one day. "Bacon is just one of those things that goes with everything," he added. "Who doesn't like bacon? It's the only food that we wrap around other food to make it taste better," he added.
Thus, the annual McClure Bacon Fest was born. Seven years later, the Bacon Fest is still going strong. While no official counts are available, organizers believe last year's festival attendance was in the 6,000 to 10,000 range. After all, "Without bacon, life is just lettuce and tomatoes," Hoke quipped on the Facebook page of the McClure Revitalization Committee, which organizes the event.
This year's Bacon Fest kicks off at 9 a.m. Saturday, April 15, with more than 170 vendors lining both sides of Station Park in McClure. The festival runs until 5 p.m. "Come early for parking," Hoke cautions. "And come hungry." For those who love bacon, it will be served at least 80 different ways: chocolate-covered bacon, grilled bacon and cheese sandwiches, bacon cheeseburgers, bacon cheese fries, sugar baby bacon on a stick, maple bacon cupcakes, bacon whoopie pies and ham, bean and bacon soup. (Not to be confused with the famous McClure Bean Soup. That festival is in the fall.) Anyway, is your mouth watering yet? "Everything you can think of that is bacon," said Hoke, the chair for this year's Bacon Fest. "They should be really, really tasty." Vendor and visitor counts continue to increase each year as this year's event boasts more than 170 vendors, an increase from 150 last year and 118 in 2021.
"Our streets were packed with visitors," Hoke said. "Our residents commented they could not remember the last time that many people came to McClure."
Admission to Bacon Fest is free. The Fun Zone inflatable park is back. It includes a bounce house, obstacle course and wrecking ball, which are open to all ages. Allday wristbands can be purchased for $5. "We've tried to make it really affordable for families," Hoke said. "We wanted to bring something to the community that they can afford to do." For adults, the Bacon Fest Beverage Garden also returns for visitors 21 and older and will be open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. There will be new beer, wine, and spirits vendors this year, with Shy Bear Brewing of Lewistown, King Cole Winery of Schuylkill Haven and Jack-Azz Distilling of Spring Glen. Also included in the event is the Piggy Trot 5K, which begins with check-in at 8 a.m. at the McClure Fire Hall. The race, hosted by the Middlecreek Valley Council of Churches, begins at 9 a.m. For more information, visit www.mcclurebaconfest.com, www.mcclurepa.org or find the McClure Revitalization Committee's page on Facebook.