O’FALLON – The sixth annual BaconFest is going to be held this Saturday, September 10 from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. at the Sgt. Charles A. Fricke VFW Post 805 in O’Fallon, located at 221 W. 1st St. The event will feature food vendors, non-food vendors, a dunk tank and more, and the event’s proceeds support Relief Funds for veterans.
SugarFire, Spud Shack, Peel Wood Fired Pizza and many others will join several food vendors that will be serving up bacon-related items, in addition to non-food vendors offering crafts and more. VFW Post 805 Senior Vice President Marcia Crawford said this year will see several new vendors, including some traditionally non-food vendors that are getting in on the bacon action this year.
“A lot of people are new this year. We have a lot of craft vendors this year,” Crawford said. “I’ve got a real estate agent – one of their people has their food handler’s license, so they’re going to serve mac and cheese with bacon in it – so a lot of the smaller, regular businesses are trying to get involved with bringing something with bacon to the table.”
For a full list of vendors and sponsors for this year’s BaconFest, visit the BaconFest website.
In addition to food and non-food vendors, the event will also feature a Dunk Tank, which will see a different person from the community get “dunked” every half hour from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. A full schedule of the Dunk Tank participants with their respective businesses/organizations is also available on the BaconFest website.
Crawford said one group of junior ROTC cadets is especially excited to see their colonel in the dunk tank after they pulled off some impressively fast fundraising.
“We got their colonel to [agree to] get in the dunk tank, and he was trying to get the cadets to cheer them on and donate something,” Crawford said. “They actually raised $600 – their goal was $300, but they raised $600 in four days to get this guy in the actual dunk tank, so the kids are excited.”
Crawford said the proceeds from this event go towards supporting veterans who come to VFW Post 805 for assistance.
“We have veterans that come into the Post all the time that need help – whether it’s to help with medications, utility bills … anything that a vet needs, they come in and we try our best to help them,” Crawford said. “So the money that comes in actually helps pay for any of the veteran causes they need help with.”
For more information about BaconFest 2022, visit the event’s website or Facebook page.
