Bacon & Eggs – Festival Promotion Underwhelms

Kevin Bacon.

Why, oh why, does the Brattleboro Chamber of Commerce persist in its effort to entice this actor to come to Brattleboro for a bacon festival? What demographic is this supposed to draw?

Quite possibly, dear reader, you are completely unaware of this marketing effort. That would be forgivable, given that the target of the marketing effort is one potential tourist — Kevin Bacon.

Rather than direct mail, or cold calling, the Chamber seems to be banking on a stealthier approach: social media nagging.

Perhaps you have seen the staff of the Chamber of Commerce walking about town carrying a cardboard cutout of the celebrity. Maybe you have seen the piece of cardboard featured in their Main Street windows. Perhaps you have seen a plea on social media sites.

I’m sure the meeting to promote the bacon festival included someone saying “Wouldn’t it be fun if we got Kevin Bacon to come?”

See, it is funny because it is a bacon festival and his name is Bacon. Get it? (If we have a Maples festival, we’ll invite Marla Maples, our Milk Fest could feature Harvey Milk… and so on.)

Whereas that might have been a good ice-breaker and conversation starter for a meeting, it should never have become an actual plan of action.

First, why Kevin? There are numerous other famous Bacons that could have been incorporated into a bacon fest for Brattleboro, such as Walter, Sosie, Reginald, Max, Lloyd, Nathaniel, and even some named Francis that have done more interesting things than be in movies.

And why not a local Bacon? I see about 23 entries in the phone book for people with the last name of Bacon. We could feature one each year for the next couple of decades!

Heck, we could even tie it to state history by making it an Aiken Bacon fest.

Second, this is not the way to get celebrities to come to an event. The accepted way is to hire them. Kevin Bacon plays in a band with his brother, the Bacon Brothers, and can be booked by contacting Paradigm Nashville or talking to Chris Bailey Productions. Call them. Get a price. Pay it.

One might also get Mr. Bacon’s attention by participating in his sixdegrees.org project, connecting celebrities with good causes. You might not get Kevin, but perhaps someone would drop by if they saw it as a good cause.

A celebrity, though, is not going to drop everything from their busy and compensated lifestyle unless there is a dying child’s last request associated with it, or something very unique.

A bacon festival is not unique. Do an internet search and you will find thousands of bacon festivals, both odler and larger. Why would a celebrity choose a small, relatively new and puny festival when they could go to any number of super festivals featuring pig races, Miss Bacon pageants, pig roasts, hog calling, and more?

A celebrity with an interest in bacon could go to a place where bacon is produced, or a large city festival with a large audience just as easily. Fly in by private plane, do the event, and get out.

In summary, I doubt Kevin Bacon will express any interest whatsoever unless there is something in it for him, compensation or promotion of a good cause, which there is not.

If the Chamber wants Kevin Bacon so badly, he can be hired. But to spend much time and energy beyond that seems to do little to help local businesses or the community.

We get it. The actor’s name is the same as the food. But Brattleboro isn’t known for bacon production. We probably have more chickens than pigs. An egg festival might be more in line with what is produced here.

Plus, Kevin Bacon was hired in 2015 as a celebrity spokesperson for the U.S. Egg Board. He might actually come to an egg fest as part of work.

Bacon as food, it would seem, is a potential conflict of interest.