Bacon Festival of America

These haters need to have a seat. Just go ahead and have several seats.
There is a FESTIVAL that’s been established for the SOLE PURPOSE of providing you with delicious BACON dishes of every type imaginable.
Stop. Whining.
Yes, it costs money. Because do you reallllly think that taking over Cesar Chavez Plaza and completely shutting down the surrounding traffic for two days is free? Oh you do? I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you, too.
Yes, there are crowds. Because tons of other people have recognized that a bacon festival can only be a good thing, and they have reacted accordingly.
About the admission fee, get your tickets early and sign up for promotional emails. I got mine a month in advanced with a promo code, so I paid about $ 10 total for 2 days and a free drink ticket, which I redeemed for $ 7 sangria. So I basically got in for $ 1.50 per day. Even if I had paid $ 12, I still would have considered it worth it, because… BACON. And FOOD TRUCKS. Equals YUM. Hello? What is wrong with these complainers?!
I just can’t with these folks. Go take your negativity elsewhere, cuz real bacon-​lovers don’t need that ish.
It is true that I was hoping for more across-​the-​board creativity with incorporating bacon into recipes, but I think that will evolve over time. Though the «bacon beer» wasn’t objectionable, I do hope that next year someone bothers to put a bit more effort into brewing it with the bacon flavor inherent in the actual beer. As it was, I got to try plenty of delicious things over 2 days (bacon sundae, and grilled cheese is always a win), so I was happy. I hadn’t even planned to go the second day, but at the end of the first, we realized that we had missed a few essentials, so back we went. Totally worth it. And there was live music.
It’s a relatively new festival, and judging by how much it improved since I last went during its first year — even by location alone — it’s only going to get better and better.

I read the name and thought this was going to be amazing. I was so wrong. This festival is the biggest rip off — $ 12 for this excuse of a festival. I had invited friends to come check it out and felt so guilty afterwards for making them waste their money too.
For the admission, I was expecting a lot more food trucks and vendors. All the trucks that looked good had huge lines while some other vendors didn’t have a single patron. The bacon theme wasn’t even very prominent. Yes, there were bacon wrapped ribs and bacon wrapped hot dogs but that’s pretty common. I mean, come on. There are street vendors that sell bacon wrapped hot dogs outside of bars and clubs.
I did try the chocolate dipped bacon and that was… Well, imagine eating chocolate plus cold congealed fat at the same time. It was not the most pleasurable experience.
And the bacon beer? They simply squirt some bacon flavoring into the cup before filling it with Miller… The bacon taste was almost non-​existent. I saw another review that said they got bacon bits. They didn’t have them when we went but I don’t think it would improve the beer at all.
As for the merchants, I don’t think I saw anything bacon themed at all. There was no bacon art, no bacon flavored sauces, nothing. The amount of merchants was also very lacking.
There are some activities for kids but nothing special. It would probably be cheaper and provide many more hours of entertainment if you just went out and bought whatever it is you or your child (ren) wanted to play. My friends and I did play medium-​sized jenga; the lady manning the booth there was really nice.
From all the negative Unilocal reviews, you would have thought they would have made some improvements this year. But nope. They should probably just change the name to ‘Bacon Festival of Disappointment’.

WHY WE WENT HERE:
— the title of the festival says it all
OUR EXPERIENCE:
— you can either buy your tickets online or buy them in person on the day-​of for around $ 12
— after you find parking in downtown SJ (that you still have to pay for depending on where you park)
— you go to the ADMISSIONS tent across the street from the enclosure of Plaza de Cesar Chavez to check in and obtain your wrist band
— you cross the street where traffic controllers may or may not check your wrist band before you enter
— on one side there’s local radio stations with tents set up
— around the local radio station tents are the somewhat circus-​esque type activities for the kids (i.e. wrestling, a man creating large bubbles, a clown/​man on stilts
— there are a number of food trucks serving bacon dishes and desserts
— around the food trucks are clothing, kitchen, and weapons vendors (really? what is a tent selling tazors even doing here?!)
— on the opposite side of the local radio station tents there’s live music/​bands playing
— whenever you attend a Moveable Feast gathering, there’s buckets turned upside down for you to sit on, but for an actual festival, I expected more table/​seating options
— a good amount of the food we had was good, but for the most part, unless it was chocolate covered bacon or a bouquet of bacon the food the food trucks were making and selling did not make bacon be the star of their dishes; it felt more like an afterthought
— the bacon beer is a disappointment because it’s Miller Lite with Bacon Bits added into it; your beer should not be chewed
OVERALL:
— great idea, but poorly executed

This one was in San Jose. If a Festival is going to call itself «Bacon Festival», it should be over-​the-​top about bacon:
like have vendors selling: maple pepper bacon strips, pork belly 5 ways over rice, bacon covered chocolate, bacon ice cream, fried potatoes & bacon – so many ways…
(I didn’t see them there, & we went early!)
All it was was just a gathering of food trucks – not even a lot of them – with long long lines.
It was just plain LAME. I wouldn’t say, «Don’t go». Just don’t go thinking you’re going to find interesting & delicious bacon to eat. The music was fun, though. The Festival just WASN’T bacon-​rich. Won’t fool me twice.

I was so excited to come here since I’ve never been! BUT I was sorely disappointed.
The lines for all of the food trucks were over an hour the entire time. I love bacon but after such an inefficient food truck business plan for ALL trucks I don’t care to try any of these places ever again. Maybe I don’t know how to run a food business but I know when you only have 2– 3 items on your menu you should have it prepped and ready, so when customers pay and get their food it is in an efficient manner. After Over an hour wait at the rib whip they ran out of the bacon Mac n cheese so we were only able to get the bacon wrapped rib.
Yes only 1 mediocre rib. 10 bucks for 2 unsatisfying ribs, total.
Thank goodness for the free s’mores brought to you by the Boy Scouts of America. I also had the maple bacon ice cream and chocolate covered bacon which ended up being a good dessert to our lacking lunch. I can’t see how this is a festival anyone would want to return to. Shout out to J. Lohr wine as it helped in line to pass the time.

Wow, I read all the negative reviews on Unilocal before going, so I set my expectations very low. Apparently not low enough. Every comment about the absurd price just to get in to wait in lines that were an hour long just to get the regular food truck food with a couple of sprinkles of bacon on top were completely true.$ 7 to park, $ 12 to get in would be fine if the festival was half way decent. We were in by 1 PM, early enough that the lines were not unbearable, but within another hour, the wait times were ridiculous. Food was not terribly expensive, but really did not reflect a bacon theme at all, as I stated, most just threw crumbled bacon on top of their regular food and called it a bacon special. This is the third annual Bacon Festival, nobody should waste their time or money attending the forth annual event in my opinion.

Exactly as stated by Amanda L’s review. Pay $ 12 to que up at food trucks. Plus, its in the boiling hot sun. Plus, sprinkling bacon bits on normal dishes does not count as bacon dishes!!! Rubbish, hot, expensive, stop wasting my time San Jose.

There are a lot of great things going on in downtown San Jose this weekend, but this is not one of them. Vendors ran out of bacon. At the bacon festival.
No heads up either, just here’s your order. «Pardon me, did you put bacon in this? ««No, we’re out.» Perhaps you could have mentioned that when I ordered?
Plus, they’re charging $ 12 per day, not that you would need to go back, but wow. I just don’t understand where the value is. Sad that the city gave up the park to such a lousy event when so many other organizations in town this week are doing a better job with their events.

Came here yesterday at around 1:30 with the family spend a good hungry hour and fifteen min in line waiting for food from just one food truck. Food Truck we tried was bacon bacon and was pretty good, we tried the 2 bacon cheeseburger slider and the porky fries and the corn bacon salad all good. But the wait was ridiculous, garlic festival was way big and the wait was not this long. There was lots of stuff for the kids to do there was a clown on stilts juggling the kids got a kick out of that, They also like the bubble guy but what they and I like was the wrestling my kids loved It, it was fun to watch. There was also live music think it was jazz but i was on kid side most of the time so didn’t have chance to go listen. We wanted to try more stuff but to wait in line all over again, We where not going to do. I think I might go again next year if there’s nothing better todo if just for the entertainment.

Pay $ 12 for admission to a corral of food trucks with long lines, and bacon toppings. Sorry, this was not a Bacon Festival. I am hard-​pressed to see where my admission price was used for this event. For free admission, I might pay for the food, but after feeling so ripped-​off, I just cut my losses and left. Sorry, but for what it is, it should be free.

Pay $ 12 to wait in line for food trucks for hours… wish I could get my money back and buy some bacon at costco

I should have read the reviews before going to this festival in downtown sj (Cesar Chavez plaza). I was just so excited to try so many baconized foods but it was so disappointing once we got there.
$ 12 admission fee, that should have stopped me but nope I just had to still go. There were a lot of food trucks, but everything was basically their normal food but with bacon bits on top. what a waste.

After seeing all the negative reviews from this year, I’m happy that I didn’t go. That confirmed my decision from last year. Not going to attend this event any year. Not wasting my money and time over it. All I can say to those I have warned before this event happened: I told you so.

Yeeee haaw!!! Bacon lovers unite!!! Here is an event were oink lovers pay homage to the ultimate savory strip known as B.A.C.O.N…ahhhh the mere utterance of the word sends that smoky hickory sensation with a crunch in every phonetic bite…
The Bacon Festival of America has chosen to organize its second run at Plaza de Cesar Chavez at Downtown, SJ which I think was awesome. This year the festival is held on the 4^th and 5^th of July. According the the website, the festival promises to provide double the fun since it coincides with the 4^th of July celebration which promised a firework display, band shows, bacon banks, a wrestling exhibition, and of course food trucks highlighting nothing else but bacon, bacon and more bacon!
We came at around 6 pm hoping that the plaza was packed with people. There was a long line on the admission and security was strict with bringing pets inside in the early parts of the festival. Admission is $ 12 for adults and free for kids 12 years old and below. We were given patriotic wristbands so we can come back later in the night if we wished (the event was open til 9 pm, as we were told by one of the security personnel).
The place literally was surrounded by food trucks and beer/​wine stalls. This just means to say that munching down the famous oink strip is best washed with ice cold beer.
They sold different renditions of sliders, burgers, bacon with fries, bacon tacos, bacon burritos, bacon cupcakes, bacon ice cream, bacon pot pies, beer smoked hot dogs and much much more! The usual food fare is 5 bucks each which is decent.

Seating was initially a hassle since everyone else was trying to save a seat for an invisible friend who’s coming very soon… however we are resilient enough to enjoy the grub standing up, until I found us a vacant table and the boys got some empty pails that doubled as chairs.
The wrestling exhibition was a nice add to the festival. The little Unilocaler said it was fake and boring since the winner of the royal rumble was a masked female wrestler (it was a mixed wrestling exhibition). I for one just enjoys the theatrics of it all… There was also different bands who supplied the lively music for the festivities.


Families came with their kids who enjoyed playing around the grass area. There were couples who came with their own blankets, others were strolling around the plaza. Foodies were found sampling the variety of grubs every truck offers. People were waiting for the start of the fireworks display come night time (we didnt wait for it since we decided to go to another show)…All in all it was an enjoyable event.

My friend and I arrived around 3:30pm, there was still plenty of parking on the grounds for $ 7. There was no wait at the ticket scans. There were quite a few people there when we arrived. Estimated wait time was less than 15 minutes at each food truck. I didn’t even try to go for the popular ones.
Our first thought was, «Where’s the bacon?!?» I didn’t even smell that glorious fatty bacony goodness… Something was very wrong here…
Who can fault me for expecting bacon wrapped EVERYTHING at the BACON FESTIVAL?! Instead, I ended up with a few bacon bits in my Mogo Spare Rib Burrito. Seriously?! The burrito itself was fine, but come on. It’s NOT a BACON FESTIVAL if you just have vendors sprinkle some bacon on top of their regular dishes.
Our next stop was Frozen Kustard. I had come to terms with this being a Bacon Bits Festival and decided to order the Coffee with Burnt Caramel Bacon. We were up next when the girl working the truck came out and crossed out the Burnt Caramel Bacon topping. WUT. HOW DO YOU RUN OUT OF BACON AT THE BACON FESTIVAL?!
At that point, I lost it and started flipping tables.
Just kidding. :)
All in all, the Bacon Festival was a joke.

It’s called Bacon Festival and it’s populated by food trucks. With that in mind the expectations should be based on that: FOOD TRUCKS.
There were decent to good food. Food Truck style. The wait? Very long for the famous ones.
As far as comfort? The bucket to sit on is just what the festival calls for. It’s a super casual event so it’s a super casual bucket!
Organization? It was as good as it got. The truck that ran out of food is the truck to be blamed alone and not the organizer of the event.
The charge to get in and for parking is the organizers downfall. Too much charging everywhere. A Unilocaler got charged for walking in– but that was a scam I think. Poor Unilocal buddy!
We enjoyed these food trucks:
Eat on Monday-​Maple glazed bacon egg roll
Seoul bitez– Korean style spicy bacon taco and ½ beef burrito.
Real deal– Fish taco
Omnininja– 1. Fresh spring roll with bacon and poached shrimp. 2. Popcorn chicken in a soy ginger glaze topped with candied bacon 3. Mini polish sausage corn dogs dipped in udon batter and wrapped in bacon. 4. Chocolate covered bacon. 5. Kumquat limeade.
We also ventured into the night market. We tried:
Sweet Dragon — three different kinds of awesome peanut brittles.
Zuji station — the potato swirls? On a stick.
The whole entire experience was to be fair chaotic. But it is to be expected. Tons of people, panic to get the right food and high expectations might be just the wrong combo to amass a great review.
The amount of bacon in most food was very good. Bacon in a reasonable amount mixed in makes for a good taste. Too much of bacon in a dish is just that– too much!

San Jose Bacon Fest of America… Oh really?! Where’s the bacon?! Where’s the bacon?!
It was more like Bay Area Bacon on Wheels! It’s all the typical food trucks that you can visit for FREE at any Moveable Feast event.
And if you’re gonna be a festival for 12 hours, at least be prepared to have enough food or re-​stock!!! I was very sad when Frozen Kuhsterd and Fairycakes were SOLD out bc I was looking for some bacon sweets!
I came with NO EXPECTATIONS and it was still disappointing! I knew not to expect much when I only saw 20 mediocre food trucks lined up for the event. It was no garlic festival for sure.
Definitely FALSE advertisement, where’s my bacon chocolate?! Bacon jam? Bacon Mac and cheese?! Bacon anything else besides added ingredients.
Parking was $ 7 but we just parked a little further and walked. It was a nice day out! And if we didn’t get in free, I would be even more disappointed!
Highlight of the festival was: big life size Jenga blocks being played, a mechanical bull, booze, and free hot sauce and water guns from Live 105! Thanks girl! :)
We ended up having Soulnese’s garlic pork fries with a piece of bacon added on and some tacos from the New Seoulbitez truck or whatever it was called.
But luckily, any event with beer can be fun!
If there are any events in the future, please PLEASE please read all of our reviews and suggestions. You can only learn through experiences.

I wholeheartedly agree with the other reviews. This is not a «festival» and definitely not «of America». Rather, it should’ve been called the Bits of Bacon in East Side San Jose because that’s literally how sad it was.
You can’t have food trucks at a huge event like this. This is an annual event, so it must be special. I don’t want to see the typical food trucks I always see. I’d like to see something new and special. I could’ve brought my own bacon bits to a Meals on Wheels event and called that a Bacon Festival. Look at Gilroy’s Garlic Festival. They’ve been successful for many years because the event is free, features EVERYTHING garlic, and no food trucks! Food trucks take up so much space; one truck’s space could be spaces for three booths. Had there been two-​three times the amount of booths, lines would move faster.
The reason why this failed miserably is because everything costed money and especially time. It is unacceptable for any food truck to run out of food. You saw the advertisement when you signed up to be a vendor; the event was 11 hours long so have way more than enough food for the event! Plus, all food trucks sold their own specialty with a hint of bacon. The event is called the Bacon Festival, not another Moveable Feast food truck event. No bacon smoothie, bacon ice cream, bacon beer, etc. Just mediocre food with bacon bits and prices raised a little more.
Moveable Feast needs to take note of other successful events like the aforementioned and the Richmond Night Market in Vancouver. Vendors need to learn from these places as well. The reason why they’re successful is because food is prepped and ready to go! Short wait, good food and everyone’s happy.
ps. When did it ever cost money to walk instead of drive? Oh yeah! At the Bacon Festival of America.

Maybe I had high hopes and got way too excited (I freed up my whole Saturday schedule, thinking I’d spend the entire day at the festival, but only stayed for 3 hrs AND I even wore stretchy pants!), but I was so disappointed by the Bacon Festival.
I was a vegetarian for 6 years, but reverted back to a carnivore lifestyle solely to eat bacon. Real talk. So bacon holds a special spot in my heart, and I was super hyped up for a festival specially dedicated to this glorious cut of meat.
The festival was poorly organized, with no signs distinguishing the entrance between the event and the adjacent flea market, and just a row of food trucks upon entry. No giant bacon centerpiece, or pin-​the-​bacon-​in-​my-​mouth type games, or bacon eating competition or world’s largest piece of bacon or bacon cook-​off or even hyper people dancing in bacon costumes. C’mon, give me something!!!
Instead, I was greeted by a row of food trucks, averaging an hour each to order and wait for food, which was simply the usual menu of each truck, with sprinkles of bacon a top. I got so tired from standing in line, that I only had the chance to try the bacon parmesan wings (
) and the bacon cheese fries (
).
The bacon cheese fries were super bomb-​diggity, with spicy nacho cheese, salty bacon, and crispy, warm fries. The wings were alright, though over-​fried and puny, but with a good amount of bacon and garlic toppings.
I think the festival has potential in the future, if they just added more activities and items focused on bacon, rather than as a garnish. For now, I’ll just take the $ 17 I spent on a $ 10 ticket + $ 7 parking fee to buy 3 lbs of bacon at Costco and eat myself into a fried meat coma and forget about how I wasted 3 hrs of my life this past Saturday.

San Jose has an abundance of food truck events and this so-​called «bacon festival» was just another one… Except they charged $ 7 for parking and a $ 10 admission fee per person for what we would normally get for FREE any other time. That parking and admission fee itself could get you more than a full meal at a restaurant. There was absolutely nothing different about this food truck event compared to all the other ones except you’re pretty much being TRICKED into thinking it was something more. I am pretty certain everyone came with the idea that it’ll be something along the lines of the Gilroy Garlic Festival in which all their foods revolve around garlic. This «bacon festival» was basically what the trucks already served except a few skimpy bits of bacon on top of it.
Like egg tarts with bacon? I asked the guy working the food truck if it was even good and he said «we wouldn’t serve it if it wasn’t» WELL, IT SUCKED! Who in their right mind would even consider that combination?! I feel dumb for even spending money on that truck at all.
All in all, worst event I have ever been to. It was disappointing in every way and I wish I would have taken my time and money to a place that doesn’t rip people off. Not worth it at all and a huge, huge waste of an afternoon.