The sizzle of 1,000 kilograms of bacon was bound to attract at least a few hundred meat-lovers. Now, even the vegans are coming.
Baconalooza, an inaugural festival celebrating the breakfast staple, is set to take over the Velox Rugby Centre on Gordon Head Road in Saanich on Saturday, May 23.
And although the vegans will be there in protest, festival organizer Morgan Onda is prepared to welcome them with a little hospitality — so long as they stay outside the gate.
“I’ll bring them coffee,” said Onda, who is also a chef.
“They’re welcome to come to my event and they’re welcome to stay out on the boulevard, but the property I’ve rented is private property.”
Not every meat festival draws the attention of activists, but Onda had a theory about why vegans might take issue with Baconalooza, which could feature everything from bacon-wrapped peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches to bacon-infused spreads.
“I think they like pigs. I think they specifically enjoy the company of little piggies — and so do I. I grew up on a farm and we raised pigs. They’re adorable,” Onda said.
“But they’re still very tasty.”
It won’t be the first time protesters set their sights on the fatty morsels. In February, about 40 animal advocates staked out the exit of Los Angeles’ Baconfest, holding placards with photos of factory-farmed hogs.
“All hell broke loose,” People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals posted in a blog, describing a scene of bacon eaters fuelled by “liquid courage” hurling more than insults at the protesters.
“One man threw a bacon doughnut at us from a moving car while yelling, ‘Drive-by baconing!’ ” the PETA blog post reads.
Less eventful protests were held at Kansas City’s Baconfest in 2014 and the San Jose Bacon Fest in 2013.
The Baconalooza protesters are being organized under the umbrella of the Critical Cat, a Victoria animal activism website that encourages vegan living. About 30 people so far have RSVPed to a Facebook invitation.
Founder Jordan Reichert said the goal is a respectful, peaceful protest to educate the public about farm practices.
“Our focus is not to attack people, guilt people, or shame people, but to make these issues present and open a dialogue about the way other animals are treated in our society.”
Reichert said Baconalooza is a festival of excess and self-indulgence. It ignores what pigs experience before reaching the plate — conditions that are too often hidden from mainstream society.
“If people realize how the animals are killed, how they’re raised, the conditions — the pain and terror and suffering that they go through in their lives,” Reichert said.
“This is celebrating the blood and violence done to other animals. It’s not something that can be described as humane. It’s not how we would treat other animals of the same intelligence and sentience as pigs, such as dogs and cats.”
At most, Reichert hopes to discourage a few people from walking through the gate. At the least, he hopes the Heart and Stroke Foundation will decline a promised donation from Baconalooza, likening it to a cancer foundation accepting a donation from a cigarette company.
Onda and animal-rights advocates have taken opposing stances on the topic before. The day after activists descended on Pig BBQ Joint on Blanshard Street in November, bearing placards for Direct Action Everywhere, Onda arrived with pro-meat placards and invited meat eaters to join him.
Two of his friends arrived and he bought them lunch.
