One of Pittsburgh’s fastest growing food festivals is BaconBurgh – A Celebration of All Things Bacon. I am lucky enough to be a hosting partner for this great festival. BaconBurgh happens near the end of every summer and just completed its second year. The festival, featuring bacon, brings together food, arts, live music, a mechanical hog, and the Wienermobile for one day in the Southside Works in Pittsburgh. Here is a little recap of the second year of this festival. This post will get updated with the date for BaconBurgh in 2027 when announced.
Disclaimer: As a hosting partner, I do receive a payment for my work on the festival, including social media and live media appearances.
Food
The main goal of BaconBurgh is to celebrate bacon. The event brings in over a dozen food trucks selling at least one food item with bacon or pork belly. Year two featured some amazing vendors. The food items had a wide range of how they used bacon or pork belly. Some made unique dishes. Others just topped their usual food items with bacon crumbles or strips of bacon. These are some of the vendors that impressed me the most this year with their dishes.
Rogue BBQ of Homestead tends to be the fan favorite every year. They bring an incredible Bacon on a Stick. It’s a strip of thick cut bacon about 18 inches long, cooked in a smoker and coated in hot honey. The bacon is so tender and sweet. However, I was most blown away by their White Brisket Sandwich. It’s pork belly seasoned like a beef brisket with mustard binder, salt and pepper, and then cooked low and slow. It was one of the most delicious things I’ve eaten. It was tender and juicy.
Pittsburgh Smokehouse loves bacon more than anyone I know. They brought an assortment of foods. My favorites were their Pork Belly Steak on a Stick, the Bacon Pinwheel, and the Candied Bacon.
Wood Stoked BBQ is the smoked meats side of Stone Craft Pizza from Pleasant Hills had pork belly bites, ribs, pulled pork and more. I got to try the pork belly bites and the pulled pork and both were so good.
Cold Friends Kitchen is a local favorite for its savory comfort foods. My favorite item of theirs is the Pork Belly Bites. They are giant pieces of pork belly that are twice roasted and covered in a sweet fire sauce.
Street Fries makes incredible containers of loaded fries. I love their BBQ Bacon Ranch Cheese Fries, which are loaded with cheese and covered in so much bacon.
Sinkers and Suds is a donuts and coffee truck that always has maple bacon mini cake donuts. These are the best sweet and savory snack or dessert.
Vendors
BaconBurgh partners with the I Made It! Market to get most of its vendors. The types of vendors range from artwork, crafts, jewelry, food items, snacks, and other various items. Some people brought their usual items and other vendors met the bacon theme by making something special for the day. These are a few of my favorites.
Ajuana’s gourmet hot sauces & salsas is always one of the most excited vendors at BaconBurgh. She has sauces that pack some punch, and sauces with fruit for a sweet or tart flavor. She even brings a hot sauce with bacon to make it a little savorier.
Vessel Studio Glass makes hand-blown and hand-pulled glass home décor and ornaments. They get in the BaconBurgh spirit with bacon and eggs ornaments. They are also in the Pittsburgh spirit with pierogi and pickle ornaments.
There were several art vendors at BaconBurgh, like Alexa Miller Designs and Fly Like Paper Design, who make hand painted artwork and greeting cards and posters respectively.
Live Music
Entertainment is a big part of BaconBurgh. This year, two bands were performing throughout the afternoon. The first band was Z Town Street Band. They play folksy music with a mix of country, bluegrass, and classic rock hits. They were great background music for the afternoon as people were eating their bacon. Closing out the afternoon was the Eagleburger Band, who are a street brass band. They play original music and adaptations of classic metal, new wave, K-pop, funk, and more. They also have a spirit squad. They kept the crowd lively through the end of the event.
Mechanical Hog
Just like some other festivals in Pittsburgh, BaconBurgh has its own version of a mechanical bull, the Mechanical Hog. It’s pretty wide, so it’s easy to plant yourself on it. However, once it starts moving, it’s pretty hard to stay on. I think I made it about 20 seconds, which isn’t bad, but it starts pretty slow. BaconBurgh partners with A+ Schools to manage the mechanical hog rides all day with proceeds from the rides going back to their organization. A+ Plus Schools envisions a Pittsburgh where every kid succeeds, in every school, every day. They work primarily with schools that have high rates of chronic absenteeism and provide resources to help get kids in school, such as basic needs support, additional educational programs, and winter coat drives.
Oscar Mayer Wienermobile
It’s exciting that the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile comes to BaconBurgh every year. If not familiar with the Wienermobile, there are 6 of these giant hot dog shaped vehicles driving around the country bringing joy to people all over. The Wienermobile spends a lot of time in Pittsburgh. During this BaconBurgh visit, I got time to talk with the Hotdoggers who travel with the Wienermobile and take a tour of the inside. This isn’t something everyone can do, but when things slowed down at the end of the festival and I told them I was making a video, I was able to get some time with them. Hot dogs are part of the persona, and I loved that. They make hot dog puns with no effort in conversation. It was also great to hear how much they loved spending time in Pittsburgh. Those interviews and a tour of the inside of the Wienermobile are in the YouTube video recap of the 2026 BaconBurgh linked below.
Video Recap
As part of my work on the festival, I captured a lot of footage to make a YouTube video recap of the 2026 event. That can be watched below. It will give a great visual of what to expect at the festival.
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