Make sure to leave your cholesterol-monitoring kit at home during this year’s gut-busting party for pork, the Arizona Bacon Fest.

The May 16 event at Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium, 2500 E. Ajo Way, is slated to be a “bacontopia,” with dozens of local restaurants dishing up sweet and savory treats. A $45 ticket gets you two dozen beer samples and unlimited tastings from restaurants including Agustín Kitchen, Lindy’s on Fourth, Union Public House, The Oink Café, Elliot’s On Congress, On a Roll sushi, Nox, Mama’s Hawaiian Bar-B-Cue and Gary Ray’s Texas BBQ. Offal aficionados take note: There will also be pig ears and a whole roasted pig.

In the end, celebrity judges will decide whose dish is the best. The winner gets a free trip to compete in the bacon category at the World Food Championships in Florida.

Bacon Fest has commanded a huge following since cousins Robert Betancourtand Robert Esparza started it in 2013. After planning a small gathering for a couple hundred people, they were shocked to see a thousand lining up to get in. But really, is anyone that surprised? It’s a festival dedicated to BACON!!!

Via http://tucson.com/entertainment/blogs/caliente-tuned-in/don-t-eat-breakfast-bacon-fest-is-today/article_45adc9a5-e56f-518c-8302-6af110920d1a.html