Second annual Imagination Bacon sizzles excitement for helping area kids

IMAGINATION BACON
Second annual Imagination Bacon sizzles excitement for helping area kids
 
By Kelli Rollin
 
Sugar, bacon, beer and a helping spirit seemed to fill the Pinnacle Bank Expo Center Saturday night.
The Heartland United Way held its second annual Imagination Bacon event. The event funds the Imagination Library program, which provides children up to 5 years old with free books.
About 17 food vendors and more than a dozen beer vendors kept attendees’ taste buds satisfied. The local vendors lined the perimeter of the room, with each food table sandwiched between beer tables. The food vendors each had a unique bacon treat.
Serendipity Grill of Aurora entertained a steady line of people eager to find out what was cooking in its cauldron. Timothy Horgan gave each person the spiel on the sweet and savory bacon dessert. He served a maple-bacon-waffle bread pudding with a small ladle of bourbon sauce over the top. The tantalizing combination was warm when first served, as the sauce seeped toward the bottom of the cup.
 
Carnivores Meat Supply served bacon cinnamon rolls, which they regularly sell at their store on Old Potash Highway. Emily Osantowski and her mom, Heather Zimmerman, cut and frosted the rolls to try to keep the table stocked with sweet, bacon goodness.
Osantowski, 21, is a cashier at Carnivores. This was her and her mom’s first time volunteering at Imagination Bacon.
She said when she tells people the cinnamon rolls have bacon in them, they light up.
“They’re surprised, like, ‘No way, they make that, too?’” Osantowski said.
 
As she frosted cinnamon rolls, Zimmerman said she likes the people and the atmosphere of the event.
“I think it’s just fun to talk to all of the people who come in,” she said.
 
Some people really embraced the bacon as they wandered around the auction items and beer booths. One woman wore a full bacon costume.
Cj Grabast, owner of Cj’s Sweet Cakes, dished up apple crisp bacon bars at her table. Last year, Grabast made pineapple bacon upside down cake, which she said was a hit.
“I thought of making the same thing, but I wanted something new this year,” Grabast said.
 
She came up with the apple crisp bacon bar recipe herself, and it wasn’t an easy task. She said finding something sweet that pairs well with bacon is difficult. Once she came up with the recipe, she tried it out on her co-workers to see if others would take well to the dessert. Obviously, they approved.
Of volunteering her time and donating her food and service, Grabast said she enjoys the Imagination Bacon event. She said it’s one of the few events that she will make sure she comes to as long as it keeps happening. She said she loves the service that the Imagination Library provides to kids.
 
“I think that there’s not enough of that for kids anymore,” Grabast said of the program promoting literacy and providing books.
Bonnie Westfall, development director for Heartland United Way, said she is pleased with the turnout at the event. Compared to last year, more tickets were sold before this year’s event began than the amount of people who attended last year’s event.
Westfall said the best part about the event is that it has the capacity to fund the Imagination Library program. Nearly 2,500 area kids are signed up for the program. The cost to fund the books is $30 a year for one child, so the program needs nearly $80,000.
 
“I love the program,” Westfall said. “What a way to change a young person’s life.”
She said the event will keep happening “as long as everyone is excited about it.”
 
And for many, it’s easy to get excited about bacon.