Beer, Boats & Bacon celebrates the three B’s

It isn’t an event for the overly health-conscious. Or at least two-thirds of it isn’t.

Saturday brings the Beer, Boats & Bacon festival to Sarasota’s Nathan Benderson Park. It celebrates three very fun things that begin with a B.

The beer comes from local breweries, including Big Top Brewing, Motorworks, Fat Point and 3 Daughters. Event organizers promise more than 60 different craft beers in all.

If you’re pork-inclined, you can use all that beer to wash down “bacon, bacon and more bacon,” as the event’s website boasts. Local eateries and chefs will be on hand offering bacon-centric edibles. Some of the restaurants and food trucks that will serve at the festival seem like easy fits. You’d expect to find some bacon in dishes coming from Polpo Pizza, Sonny’s BBQ and a food truck called Ravenous Rhino, for example. But My Cupcake Insanity and Craving Donuts will also be on hand, presumably offering some bacon-flavored sweets.

The festival touts its bacon and beer a lot more than its boats, but it does promise “learn to row” courses for kids this year.

There’s live music too, and more bands this year than in the past. Organizers promise to have extra staff at the entrances so the wait to get in doesn’t become excessive. They also say they’ll have more water and soft drinks available this year, and that you’ll be able to purchase food directly from vendors, rather than buying food tickets first. And hours have been expanded wtih the festival starting at noon and going until 7 p.m.

Tickets are $10, but you can opt for a $30 ticket that allows you to sample craft beer from 3-7 p.m.

Details: Noon-7 p.m. Oct. 8, Nathan Benderson Park, 851 Nathan Benderson Circle, Sarasota. $10 general, $30 beer sampling. $5 children 3-12. beerboatsandbacon.com.

This story was originally published October 5, 2016 at 5:17 PM with the headline "Beer, Boats & Bacon celebrates the three B’s."