There are some days you never forget; the last time your favorite team won a championship, the time you found $20 in the parking lot, when your friend fell on his face in front of everybody. Those days are the best. No matter how long it’s been, everything about those days is vivid and detailed.

It’s the same way with BaconFest: a day to celebrate the sensational taste of swine, a day of great hype, great hope and good intentions. But at its core, it’s a troubled tale full of teasing and gluttony. It begins with the simple enjoyment of one of the kitchen’s most versatile ingredients; “everything tastes better with bacon” isn’t a cliche, it’s a fact.

It began on a typical day in newspaper where chaos is often the norm and intellectual debates of great importance are a daily occurrence. Someway, somehow (the details aren’t important and are often secondary in newspaper) the topic of bacon came up. Soon a chorus began shouting of bacon’s greatness, its glory, its deliciousness. Then from the dark recesses of E103, a timid, Swedish voice arose: “Bacon is so gross. How can you eat an animal?”

The bile and anger quickly consumed me. Who would dare question the need for humans to indulge their core and consume the flesh of tasty, fatty animals? Ahhhh Cassie Karlsson. My favorite vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, idon’tcarian. Soon the entire staff turned ugly, frightening the soft-spoken and shy Karlsson into a corner, tears streaming down her face, screaming, “Pig Killers!”

With the furor of the mob inciting a cult-like mentality over the greatness of bacon and the desire to show Karlsson the wrongs of her way, it was as if divine intervention rained down from the sky, showering us all in the glory of bacon, and sparking an idea that still thrives five years later: BaconFest. A day to taunt a sweet Swedish girl with anything and everything bacon.

Bacon. Bacon cookies, bacon baked potatoes, bacon wrapped bacon, bacon candy, bacon pizza, bacon fried rice, deep fried bacon, bacon chips, bacon soda, bacon toothpicks, bacon, bacon, bacon. If it had bacon, featured bacon or simply tasted like bacon, it was and remains fair game for BaconFest.

But the day couldn’t exist simply to taunt said Swedish girl. No, we had to find the bacon fat lining in that dark cloud over the glorious day. Then, with the glow of angels surrounding her, Ginger Hervey- former Editor-in-chief of The Red Ledger- stood on top of the tables and proclaimed, “BaconFest shall be in my honor, on my birthday,” and from then on, April 26 (unless it falls on a Saturday or Sunday) was and will forever be BaconFest.

(Disclaimer: 98 percent of this is false. However, there a few facts: April 26 is BaconFest. April 26 is also Ginger Hervey’s birthday. The inspiration for BaconFest did arise from a conversation about bacon and Cassie’s dislike of it however the rest is an embellishment to the highest degree.)