{"id":363855,"date":"2025-08-21T22:37:37","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T12:37:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=363855"},"modified":"2025-08-28T13:31:18","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T03:31:18","slug":"thumbs-up-for-another-pig-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2025\/08\/21\/thumbs-up-for-another-pig-festival\/","title":{"rendered":"Thumbs Up For Another Pig Festival!"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
The new-look 2025 Kingaroy BaconFest has been given a big thumbs up … from left, volunteers Leanne Dahms and Tracy Goldsmith<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

August 21, 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Chief Baconeer for the 2025 Kingaroy BaconFest, Rob Fitz-Herbert, has given this year’s new-look event a big thumbs up.<\/p>\n

He told southburnett.com.au<\/strong> the feedback he had received so far about the festival had been overwhelmingly positive.<\/p>\n

Local accommodation providers had been booked out, and the key sponsors, SunPork,\u00a0 Australian Pork and Westlink, were happy.<\/p>\n

The provision of a shuttle bus, which ferried visitors from motels and the Kingaroy Showground, was new this year and had been very popular.<\/p>\n

About 1200 people passed through the gate at Memorial Park on Friday night for the Bacon Street Feast, which featured a full range of food stalls as well as live entertainment on the Westlink stage.<\/p>\n

On Saturday morning, about 600 people came along for the Big Bacon Breakfast.<\/p>\n

These two events enabled families on a budget to enjoy a taste of BaconFest.<\/p>\n

The main event kicked off at 10:00am on Saturday and was another sell-out, with about 4000 tickets sold.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Visitors could browse the 20 food stalls, many of which featured bacon or pork dishes, and 30 market stalls.<\/p>\n

Rob said a number of community organisations had benefited from the event, including the Kingaroy Scouts, Kingaroy Rotary and the two local Lions clubs (Kingaroy and Taabinga).<\/p>\n

The shorter 2025 BaconFest – just one night and one day – was popular with volunteers as well as stallholders, many of whom packed up on Saturday night to attend other events on Sunday.<\/p>\n

The schedule also freed up Sunday for visitors who could spend another day exploring the South Burnett (and spending money) before heading back home.<\/p>\n

Rob said the highlight for him was the performance on Saturday night by country star Troy Cassar-Daley, “one of the biggest music artists in the country”.<\/strong><\/p>\n

He said BaconFest was thrilled to have been able to secure Troy for the event, and Memorial Park had been the best venue for the concert.<\/p>\n

“The park is well laid out for events like this,” Rob said.<\/p>\n

He said Troy was remarkable, particularly the way he ran a workshop for local students, and then got them up on stage with him on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Rob said the success of this year’s event was a testament to the hard work of his committee and the many volunteers who helped over the weekend.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The performance by Troy Cassar-Daley on Saturday night attracted a big crowd to Memorial Park<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Students from Kingaroy State High School, St John’s Lutheran School and St Mary’s Catholic College joined Troy Cassar-Daley on stage to sing “Dream Out Loud”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Ellie Fiedler with Troy on stage … the performance by the schoolchildren, who had taken part in an earlier workshop with the country star, was greeted with loud applause from the audience<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

* * *<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Saturday<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
\"\"<\/a>
SunPork Smoke-Off champions “Dusty Q” (Jeff and Amanda Griffiths, from Adelaide) and Grand Champion “Big GC’s BBQ” (Fiona and Grant Coleman from the Gold Coast) … the barbecue competition has been a part of BaconFest since the first festival in 2018<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Local singer Amber Goldsmith, who has just released her new album “Drive”, was the main warm-up act before Troy Cassar-Daley hit the stage<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Natalie Fenton and Tracy Goldsmith were dancing the night away in front of the stage with some friendly “piglets”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Tiny Young, from Brisbane, and Brett Nayler, from Bell, were looking forward to Saturday night’s Troy Cassar-Daley concert<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Nicky Watkins, from Murgon, with South Burnett Mayor Kathy Duff<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Cr Danita Potter with her sister, Anne-Marie Buhmann, from the Gold Coast … Cr Potter was particularly proud that two South Burnett Youth Council members made it through to the final of the bacon-eating competition!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Josh Gleich, from Kingaroy, was helping to prepare the food on the SunPork stand<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Australian Pork representatives with the junior and senior winners of the bacon-eating competition (Photo: Kim Jones)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Audience members brought along their picnic rugs and camping chairs for the evening’s entertainment<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
The sign on this food stall says it all … pork was very popular at BaconFest!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

* * *<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Bacon Street Feast<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

Friday night’s Bacon Street Feast and Saturday morning’s Big Bacon Breakfast were designed to be “community events” for local residents with a cheaper entry price:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Kate Taylor, from SunPork, was busy cooking up some …. bacon!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
SunPork crew members Keren Pitt and Andrew Hiscox were helping out on the merch stall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
SunPork members sharing tasty treats at the Street Feast<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Amos Pellas was one of the many local performers on stage across Friday night and Saturday<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Tanya Hodgson, from Kingaroy, and Linda Sonter, from Inverlaw, were exploring the SunPork Smoke-Off teams’ tents<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
First-time SunPork Smoke-Off entrants “Red Beard BBQ” … from left, Cody Barrett, Billy Whelan, Matt Walker and Harley O’Brien<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Jess and Mitch Barnes, from Oakey, were competing in the Smoke-Off as “Smooth & SmOakey”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Kerry O’Brien and Tony Fellows, from Hillsdale Estate at Booie<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Taabinga Lions Club was one of the local community groups which had a food stall …<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
… alongside the Kingaroy Lions Club<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Bev Watter, from Kingaroy Rotary, was frying up bacon (!) on the Rotary stall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Not wanting to be a boar, but some pigs probably get an over-inflated opinion of themselves during BaconFest …<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Cr Jane Erkens, at front, caught up with fellow Nanango residents Debbie and Mark Hartley, and Claudia Mueller<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
The Lost Explorers (Colonel Braxton Hicks and the other one) were exploring the BaconFest grounds on Friday night<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
KCCI president (and Martoo Meats butcher) Damien Martoo compered the entertainment on the main stage<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Natalie Fenton was another of the local singers who filled the entertainment schedule<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
People were enjoying meals and snacks on Friday night at the Bacon Street Feast<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Chief Baconeer for the 2025 Kingaroy BaconFest, Rob Fitz-Herbert, has given this year’s new-look event a big thumbs up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":363856,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16,3,10],"tags":[21,1130],"yoast_head":"\nThumbs Up For Another Pig Festival! - southburnett.com.au<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Chief Baconeer for the 2025 Kingaroy BaconFest, Rob Fitz-Herbert, has given this year's new-look event a big thumbs up.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2025\/08\/21\/thumbs-up-for-another-pig-festival\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Thumbs Up For Another Pig Festival! 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