Sunshine Coast bacon lovers will be feeling like a pig in mud at a three-day foodie festival in August.
Kingaroy BaconFest – a celebration of all things pork – is expected to draw a crowd of more than 15,000 to the South Burnett town, just under a two-and-a-half-hour drive from the Coast, from August 20-22.
After last year’s virtual event, “chief baconeer” Kristy Board said the festival would be back with renewed energy and vigour and was expecting to host travellers from far and wide.
Australia’s favourite Spaniard, celebrity chef Miguel Maestre, will headline the 2021 festival and is set to cook up a storm with a number of demonstrations over the course of the weekend.
Maestre is co-host of the award-winning lifestyle television series The Living Room and has presented TV shows including Miguel’s Feast, Miguel’s Tropical Kitchen and Boys Weekend. In February 2020, he was crowned winner of the sixth season of I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! And he also competed in the 2019 season of Dancing with the Stars.
“They say bacon is the duct tape of the food world – it fixes everything,” Maestre joked.
“I can’t wait to visit the beautiful South Burnett to explore the region’s produce and celebrate all things pig.”
Ms Board said she was excited to be welcoming a chef of Maestre’s calibre to Kingaroy.
“Miguel is a popular performer at many of Australia’s top foodie events including Regional Flavours in Brisbane and Good Food and Wine Shows in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth,” she said.
“I’m tickled pink that he’ll be at Kingaroy BaconFest in August.”
Also during the weekend, festival-goers can take in cooking demonstrations performed by local chef and South Burnett food ambassador Jason Ford and by Dan and Steph Mulheron, winners of My Kitchen Rules in 2013.
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About 40 teams from across Australia are expected to battle it out over a hot grill for another quirky event, the SunPork Smoke-Off: an official round of the Australasian Barbecue Alliance Championship Series.
All BaconFest vendors are required to have bacon on their menu, which results in some unusual offerings – think bacon ice-cream, bacon jam and more.
“In addition, we’ll have past favourites including the Wine and Swine evening event, Long Table Breakfast, food and local producers’ market, BaconFest Pin-up Pageant and Beard of BaconFest competition, a bacon-eating competition, live music and much more,” Ms Board said.
“BaconFest is a great way to put the spotlight on our hard-working farmers, to showcase top-quality South Burnett produce and to help raise money for local charity.”
Pig farming is one of the South Burnett’s biggest industries and Kingaroy is home to the Swicker’s Bacon Factory: the largest pig-processing plant in the southern hemisphere.
The plant is owned by the festival’s major sponsor SunPork Fresh Foods, which is this year contributing $35,000 to the festival – as well as around 100kg of bacon and meat for several events.
Ms Board said while some elements of the festival had been more complex to organise this year, the event would deliver a COVID-safe celebration of bacon.
“We’ll be putting a number of precautionary measures in place, including sanitising stations and extra cleaning services.
“As a result, we’ll be charging a small entry fee this year and asking bacon lovers to pre-purchase their tickets online.”
General admission tickets for the festival will cost $6 for one day or $10 for two; $3 children (aged 5-18); concessions ($4 for two days); family pass (2 adults and 2 children) $15 for one day or $25 for two.
For more information, visit www.kingaroybaconfest.com.au
