Bacon festival organizers predict success in Vegas

Know who probably won't be attending the Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival's Extreme Bacon Bite Challenge in Las Vegas?

A certain group of researchers who earlier this week released a report saying that regularly eating bacon, as well as such processed meats as hot dogs and sausage, can cause colorectal cancer.

And know who will be there? Just about every-bacon-loving-body else, who, science or not, will attend to celebrate their love of their favorite breakfast (and lunch, and dinner, and snacktime) treat.

Organizers say the report from the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer — and the often alarmist headlines it created — hasn't put a damper on what they're calling a gathering devoted to "bacon fellowship."

In fact, says Marshall Porter, "chief bacon officer" of the Iowa Bacon Board, the event's organizer, "interest in the event has increased since headlines hit earlier this week. There has been an abundance of bacon lovers out there who are a little disappointed with some of the misleading headlines related to the WHO's recent announcement."

So, Porter says, interest in the event, and of all things bacon, actually has "heightened a little bit."

This is the first time that the Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival's Extreme Bacon Bite Challenge, scheduled for Nov. 14 at Rain at the Palms, will be held in Las Vegas. Previous events have been held in bacon-loving locales ranging from Iowa (of course) to Iceland (really?).

The Las Vegas event will feature 10 mostly Las Vegas-based chefs competing for bragging rights and a prize package valued at $4,000, Porter says. It also serves as an official qualifying event for the 2016 World Food Championship in Kissimmee, Fla.

Also scheduled for the Las Vegas event are an Elvis costume competition, assorted bacony goodies for fans, and what organizers are calling a "bacon-infused wedding ceremony (visit www.blueribbonbaconfestival.com for more information).

Porter says the Iowa Bacon Board is "just a bunch of friends who have been getting together and celebrating bacon for a long time."

They put on their first bacon festival eight years ago, mostly to share "our love of bacon in a unique way with other folks, and it's just kind of taken off from there," he says.

Why Las Vegas? Because the city is "known for some great, interesting events, and that's kind of what we think we are," Porter says.

And if the past week has proved anything, it's that not even science can win when it goes up against bacon.

Brooks Reynolds, the Iowa Bacon Board's president and (seriously) "chairman of bacon," says the WHO "issues grave warnings about everyday items without any consideration or someone's full health profile."

"I think what everybody can agree on," he says, is that eating a well-balanced diet, making healthy lifestyle choices and maintaining a healthy weight "reduces risks of all kinds."

Ask your doctor if "you can fit bacon into (your) lifestyle and remain healthy and live long, and I have a hard time thinking your doctor wouldn't say, 'Of course you can,' " he adds.

So maybe next year's Extreme Bacon Bite Challenge can include a "healthy bacon bite" component? Funny you should ask.

A new event is being considered for future events, Porter says, "and we've been kind of working, between us, on a bacon health-related theme."

In the meantime, Reynolds says, such reports are "part of the reason why we have experienced so much growth and success in what we call bacon fellowship over the years. We provide a fun atmosphere where people can enjoy bacon and enjoy the fellowship and a ridiculously fun event while, at the same time, (avoiding) ridicule."

Contact reporter John Przybys at jprzybys@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0280 or follow @JJPrzybys on Twitter.