One of the biggest differences between Portland and Columbus is the sheer number of festivals that exist here. It blows my mind. I had been trying to use the event tab of Facebook to organize everything that I’ve been interested in, and even that got out of hand, so I’ve gone back to use my paper planner, a pen, and high lighters to keep track of the different events that I want to check out, that way, I know for sure that I’m not going to miss one that I want to go experience.

This totally ties back in with my crazy passionate love for office supplies. Give me a fresh pack of highlighters, new pens, sticky notes, and a clean page in my planner, and I am a seriously happy person, and I embrace it whole heartedly. It works for me, because the biggest lie I tell myself is “oh I’ll remember, I don’t need to write it down”. Ha.  I know with 100% certainty that I have to write it down, and the few times that I haven’t stuck with this, I’ve forgotten. Like clock work.

Ohio Bacon Fest 2017

I’ve had Ohio Bacon Fest on my book for a while, so when I found that through Columbus Food Bloggers we were invited to attend Bacon Fest, I was STOKED.

[bctt tweet=”Bacon Bacon Bacon Baaaaaaaaacon Fest here in Columbus was delicious. ” username=”cookeatexplore”]

For those of you who may not be as familiar with Columbus, Columbus Commons is a kick ass green space in the heart of down town that has a performance stage at one end, and plays host to the Columbus Symphony Orchestra’s picnic with the pop’s series as well as over 200 other festivals and events. It’s pretty awesome.

Last year Jeff and I went to the food truck festival, got caught in a down pour, and ended up calling it an early evening, so Bacon Fest was the first event at the commons that I got actually experience fully.

It’s awesome.

One thing I know that I will for sure do differently next year is make sure to go with more people… tasting, even when it’s just a bite, of a lot of dishes gets you full real fast, and we weren’t able to work our way through everything that we wanted to try. Next time, more of us, more mouths, and we’ll be able to make our way through a whole lot more.

The festival itself offered strips of bacon with different flavor combinations, we had peppered bacon, and the other had a spicy pepper kick, both were wonderful. Cooked perfectly, both were crispy and crumbly and melted once it hit your tongue.

I’m stoked for next years Bacon Fest if for no other reason than I’ll get to have more of that damn bacon.

I keep saying we, as I invited my friend Valerie along, and thankfully she agreed to come hang out, drink, and eat bacon with me, as we explored what Bacon Fest had to offer. We started at the bar, bacon Bloody Mary for me, which was the featured cocktail of the night, beer for Valerie, and we were off.

We stated at Chicky Chicky Waffle, getting thier bacon waffle and street corn. HOLY CRAP.  Not only are thier chicken and waffles to die for, thier syrups are right up there, the maple BBQ is really good, but the Flaming Yardbird, that’s where it’s at. The PERFECT blend of spicy and sweet, that when combined with the bacon waffle and fried chicken?! PERFECTION.

The Flaming Yardbird, that’s where it’s at. The PERFECT blend of spicy and sweet.

From there we stopped at Sweet Tooth Ice Cream, digging into thier Maple Bacon Blondie, topped with bacon ice cream and candied bacon.  Yup. You read that right, bacon ice cream.  Hands down my favorite of the entire festival.

Sweet Tooth Ice Creams maple bacon blondie, bacon ice cream, and candied bacon. If I had to pick one thing to eat for the rest of my life, this would probably be it.

We made it down to Barroluco, and went with thier sampler, trying our level best to taste everything, but at this point I had to tap out, I was SO overly full that even another taste, of anything was going to be way more than my stomach could handle. It was also at this point that we realized that for future food festivals, more than two people are kind of a necessity, if you’re going to want to cover more ground.

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Bacon waffle, topped with amazingly fried chicken,

Most popular tent at the festival.

Columbus Commons

Chicky Chicky Waffle

Festival Bacon

Barrolucco’s Sampler Platter

Bacon Bloody Mary

Sweet Tooth Ice Creams maple bacon blondie, bacon ice cream, and candied bacon. If I had to pick one thing to eat for the rest of my life, this would probably be it.

The line waiting to order Chicky Chicky Waffle.

Mechanical Pig, sadly only for kids.

Street Corn, with crumbled bacon.

Barrolucco