It’s a well-known fact among our friends that I am an unrepentant fiend for bacon. If I go to a restaurant and there’s a dish featuring pork belly, bacon or pancetta, I’ll get it – whether it’s an appetizer, entree or even dessert, it doesn’t matter. I see bacon in the ingredient list and I’ll try it at least once. My culinary experiments regularly involve finding ways to incorporate bacon into a dish.

So naturally there is no way I am going to miss the Chicago Baconfest next month at the Stan Mansion in Logan Sq. Baconfest is the brainchild of three Chicago natives who decided to use their love for bacon and contacts in the Chicago food scene to organize a celebration of crispy, salty, smoked pork goodness. The fest will feature seven hours of bacon love, including two Bacon Tasting shifts provided by twelve outstanding Chicago chefs (with a different line up in each shift) presenting twelve different bacon courses; a Bacon Expo with vendors offering everything from “gourmet smoked bacon to bacon-lip-balm to bacon-cupcakes to bacon-tshirts and jewelry,” and a Bacon Café, Bar & Cocktail Lounge in which “local restaurants will serve bacon-based snacks; local bakeries will concoct bacon-sweets; local bars will serve up bacon cocktails and refreshing beer.” There’s even an amateur baking/cooking contest, to which yours truly is submitting a recipe for consideration – if it’s rejected, I’ll post it here for you to try yourselves, but mum’s the word until I hear from the organizers. Suffice to say, I’m creating something that reflects my love of mixing the salty with the sweet in an easy, bite-sized treat.

Sounds like a can’t miss for bacon afficionados, right? I regret to inform you that you snooze, you lose – tickets went on sale at 12pm, CST, on March 4th. By 12:15pm, the event was sold out. And my friends thought I was silly for setting an alarm for 2 minutes before sale time to remind me (I had my ticket confirmation by exactly 12:03pm – when I checked the event Facebook page an hour later, I was stunned by all the “I can’t believe it’s sold out already!” posts).

But don’t fret, bacon fans – the organizers were so surprised by the interest generated in their humble idea that it’s likely to become an annual event. You can check out the event website at http://baconfestchicago.com and you can also join the Baconfest Chicago group on Facebook. Plan ahead for next year, folks. Something tells me that this is going to be an unforgettable evening. I promise I’ll write up the event after I’ve attended. Assuming I’m not in the hospital due to an overdose of bacon.