Bacon Bonanza

By Alison Fiebig, assistant editor––

As some of you may know, I’m an avid Tweeter. And I have Twitter to thank for inspiring the focus of August’s dining feature, “Better with Bacon.”

I'm not ashamed to admit that we here in the editorial department talk about bacon... a lot. Two of our most beloved bacon items: Vosge's Mo's Bacon Chocolate Bar (World Market) and Caprine Supreme's bacon goat cheese (Appleton Farmers Market). After writing the bacon feature, we now know where to go to get bacon with anything––burgers, pizza, entrées and even gelato.

I also have to mention that Julie (graphic designer) received bacon mints as a gift a few months back. We don't recommend them… unless nausea is your thing.

Not long after our bacon brainstorm, I started to pick up on bacon-related tweets by people in the area. If they weren’t tweeting about it, they were meeting in the name of it. For example, a group in De Pere gathers for what they call the “Green Baycon Breakfast Tweet-up.” Bacon has become a necessity at northeast Wisconsin’s New North Social Media Breakfasts and plates of it are not lacking at Appleton’s Blueberry Hill breakfast tweet-ups. The mania is unmistakable.

Just last week, Julie forwarded Richard Niemuth’s weekly e-letter to me. In it he wrote: “Check out www.thebaconparty.com for a big bacon party on September 11th. He makes his own bacon and will have about 200 pounds at the party.”

Was this a joke? A few days passed before hearing back from the Bacon Party planner Seamus Wedge. The Neenah resident confirmed that yes, the party is real. Five-years-old, in fact.

“I saw how to make your own bacon on TV about five years back. Alton Brown deserves some credit,” says Wedge. “One pork belly can weigh 10 pounds though, so I invited some friends to help me out. It's grown every year.”

Two years ago, Wedge’s bacon party doubled as his wedding reception. One year, eleven French guys showed up at his door. Last year, he was interviewed for a Vancouver radio morning show.

He considers it to be a small event (around 100 guests), but his website encourages friends and residents alike to spread the word. “Your friends’ friends are welcome, up to and including Kevin Bacon,” as is listed as a rule on the website. He also notes that “vegetarians can eat turkey bacon… in the comfort of their own home.”

His website, complete with event details, retail and a short history on how bacon has shaped America, is worth a visit.

Join the conversation with Alison on Twitter @AFiebig. Have an idea for an article? We want to hear it!