Southwest Bacon Fest

I think this was the first year for this event. It was good, but improvements still need to be made. Vendors ran out of food early in the evening and several vendors served cold bacon and nacho cheese. Would have been nice to see bigger portions of bacon at a bacon fest. On many of the dishes, I could barely taste bacon. There were some bright spots like the vendors that planned for the crowd and served great food. Also, a better, less confusing, pricing structure would be nice and a bit cheaper or cheaper menu items. It would be nice to not pull out my wallet every five minutes. The music, the space, and the kids area was a positive.

This was honestly a little different than I thought it would be. I am a huge bacon fan, and I just really didn’t feel like this was a bacon festival. This was more of a full on beer festival than bacon. It could have been a brew festival with a bacon theme instead of fusing both the things together.
The reason I gave this such a low star rating, mainly comes from the excessive wait times there (along with the lack of emphasis on bacon). I understand it’s a busy event, but a wait time was literally attached to everything. Every line (brew lines, food lines, and even bathroom lines) had 7 – 30 minute waits. Plus the only thing you really got was music. The food samples were very limited and unless if you really really wanted something you didn’t dare go to the line.
I think this should have been called a food truck brew festival because the majority of the vendors just put some bacon crumbles on top of their regular menu items. I think even like a bacon and tortilla sandwich would have added more bacon theme to this event than some of the other options. Some business did try to capture that bacon theme, but others just didn’t.
If this occurs again next year I really hope they get way more vendors. This years selection was very limited and even if they had like craft, jewelry, and art vendors that might even out the crowds and diminish wait times. This event has potential, but it just needs a little work.
In regards to the eats, I had some nachos that were not bad. They were a little cold (maybe due to the outdoor breeze), but the overall flavor was good. The blueberry lemonade was okay. The presentation was beautiful, but it had the tart Minute Maid taste. I brought it home, and currently it’s sitting in my fridge. I plan on adding some simple syrup to sweeten the taste. I also had a salted caramel ice cream sundae with granola, maple, and bacon toppings. That sundae was really really good! I was impressed with the flavor combos. The salted caramel added a nice addition to the granola and bacon taste, and I would most definitely eat it again!
I’m not trying to knock this festival in anyway, but there do need to be some improvements for next year. With a little work this event could be great and it could bring in some revenue for our local brew and food vendors!

Definitely worth checking out if they have this event again next year. I enjoyed the live music and the overall feel of the festival. Certainly didn’t hurt that it was a gorgeous fall day.
Couple of things worth noting.
I was a little disappointed by how many vendors had sold out of food items by the time we arrived at about 1:30. We really wanted bacon ice cream but it was nowhere to be found. Hopefully vendors will stock up better next year but, if not, I’d say you want to arrive on the earlier side.
The lines for certain things were also just insane. I don’t have a death wish so I wasn’t eager to try the green chili donut bacon cheeseburger, but had I decided I wanted one, it would’ve easily been a 30 – 40 minute wait. I also believe that due to this, the «fill me with bacon» ticket is not really worth it. We had the gen admit ticket for $ 7 which I believe was the better choice.
Also, just as a side note, I went to buy a bacon fest t-​shirt and noticed there were none for 2015. When I asked if they had run out, the employee informed me that they forgot to print shirts for this year. I found this kind of hilarious. Hopefully they remember next year.

Let me start this review off by saying I love bacon! As someone else commented there was nothing special because everything was pretty much the same with just bacon on it yes it is so delicious and Creative I guess in a way not too creative but I mean who would have ever thought about putting bacon on a marshmallow? I like that there was plenty of room between the vendors, lots of places to sit and eat, lots of grass to relax, plenty of walking room and good music to listen to. There were lots of breweries not really much of anything else for people who don’t drink beer to drink, some sodas and Mexican drinks. If you don’t drink sugar, you’re pretty much out of luck drink wise I don’t even remember seeing any bottles of water. I’m glad I had my Unilocal water bottle with me! Prices were a little pricy. I was disappointed I didn’t get to taste macaroni balls and a few other items even though we went around 11:30. We were really surprised by how much stuff was already sold out. We waited in line 25 minutes for a slice of pizza because my sister had to have a slice. I think the best thing I had was the bacon brownie it was awesome! My granddaughter loved the donuts with the chocolate dipping sauce and of course the activities for the kiddos. I will go again next year. I went last year and wasn’t impressed at all but they’ve really improved it this year and I look forward to next year’s tasty creations. I gave them three stars because even though the food was tasty I just wasn’t really impressed with what was offered.

We spent a couple of hours ingesting bacon in many different ways… on pizza, on marshmallows, in quiche, on cookies, on chicken, in macaroni salad… it was a smörgåsbord of salty goodness.
We arrived early and parking wasn’t too bad but at our departure, the line for parking was getting a bit long. Unnecessarily long. Parking was free, which is always a plus.
Overall the food was worth it at a good enough time to return next year. Arrive hungary…

It was a fun afternoon. I was a bit disappointed with the amount of vendors. I went around 2:30 pm and a lot of the vendors were out of things. Hoping they will expand the vendors next year and have more stock of items.
Also if they have the bacon infused old fashioned next year, don’t get it. The bacon after taste was sickening. I ended up throwing away my drink.

Don’t get the VIP. It wasn’t really worth. Get there early so it won’t be super hot and spend half your day looking for a parking space.
Also if you are over 21 might be a good idea to have your hand stamped — see picture. Without it they won’t be able to sell alcoholic beverages to you.
Honestly I wasnt all that impressed by this festival since the vendors werent that «creative». All they did was put bacons on their normal dishes and voila now it’s not longer the same?!?
It was a pet friendly event though and it was fun to see the young ppl and the community. I am sure the next one will be better than this.

I’m over the moon with how much everything was improved upon this year! Last year was a nightmare, so I was willing to give it another shot this time around since I realize it *was* the first time the event was ever done.
My husband and I got there right on time for the gates to open for General Admission, decided to divide and concur like we attempted last year. Thing is, this time it worked out well, lol. I tackled «Maine Street Lobster», which was booth #14 since they were offering fried bacon lobster mac & cheese balls, while my husband scampered off to «Greek Geek» over at booth #21 for the Italian bacon nachos. My order was fairly delayed considering their fryer wasn’t cooperating with them. was told it’d be 20 minutes when it actually took an hour to get the four mac & cheese balls I ordered. Some people were getting really snarky with the staff despite them trying to appease people with other things they were trying to offer. By the time we made our lap around the event, my order was ready just in time for us to head home. Overall, they were awesome. just the delivery time kinda sucked. The Italian nachos at the Greek Geek were UH-​mazing and I ended up getting one of their gyros, which was equally as awesome. I mean, seriously. How can you go wrong with bacon? From there, we wandered around and tried some of the cheese curds with bacon from Old Windmill Dairy, booth #11, which freaking rocked. Ended up buying some of their green chile cheese and other goodies. Scored some bacon maple mini cupcakes from Cake Fetish, booth #10, for my husband to take to work for his co-​workers. Then wandered by Black Bird Pies, booth #24, in which my very Southern husband picked up a grip of mini pecan pies as well as apple crisp. If you didn’t think that was enough food, we still ended up getting some bacon chocolate mouse cups at Joliesse Chocolates, booth #51. Holy bajeezus, that stuff was AWESOME! Hopped over to Teri’s Sweet Garden, booth #59, and picked up some additional goodies for the hubbs to take to work (bacon candied popcorn balls and bacon brownies). Drool! Our final gluttonous stop was over at New Mexico Pie Company, booth #60, in which we picked up bacon & green chile quiches for tonights dinner. Can you say gordos? Yeah, we were total fatties and my gym is going to kick my tail. I don’t care, it’s better to ask for forgiveness verses asking for permission, ha!
My only gripe: The event staff at the front of the museum would send people to the wrong area for their bands. We were directed by one member to the front yellow tent for our stuff. the «Will Call» tent, stood in line and once we got to the front, we were then told that we needed to go to booth 8 even though we showed our pre-​purchased tickets. Cool. Get to booth 8 and was told to stand in the admissions where no one else had their pre-​printed tickets and none were rockin’ their legit yellow /​blue bands. Interesting. Then an event staff member pulled my husband and I since she saw that we had our print out stuff, said to go back to the Will Call tent to get our bands. When I explained that we were just there and they told us to go to where we currently were, she stated that the peeps up front didn’t know what they were doing (obviously). Walked back over there, waited in line again at Will Call, watched them give people their general admission bands (the blue ones) and directed them to where they needed to go. So, why didn’t they do that for us? It was finally our turn to get our bands and before I could get a word out, the gal told us that we needed to go back to the massive line for booth 8. NO. No, we’re not. I was getting irritated because why are other people being given their blue bands, but not us? WTF? I told her we’re not going to another line because she had a pack of blue bands right there, here was my PAID tickets I had printed out and that they need to get their facts straight so people don’t go hiking back and forth, wasting time in wrong lines to get into an event that’s supposed to be a good time. I’m thinking I broke her spirit a little bit (sorry about that!) because she just gave up, took my tickets and gave us our bands with some dismay. It’s just irritating to get the run around, that’s all.
Over all, very VERY happy that the event organizers listened to peoples gripes /​suggestions from last years event and applied them to this years. Massive props on allowing more space between vendors, adding even more vendors to the roster in addition to having some pretty cool things available to all the bacon-​lovers that ABQ has to offer.