Event celebrates pork and pork products

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LOUISVILLE, Ky., April 10 (UPI) -- About 700 people attended the Louisville Visual Art Association's "Bacon Ball" to raise money for its community arts programs, Kentucky officials said.

The association hosted the event to celebrate and generate funding for a newly finished terrace at the Louisville Water Tower Saturday.

Shannon Westerman, the art association's executive director, told The (Louisville, Ky.) Courier-Journal she was surprised by the turnout.

"It's an opportunity to celebrate bacon, which we all love, but it's also a chance to celebrate the visual arts," Westerman said. "The visual arts can be the conduit for a really good time, tying in the artwork but also good food, music and the public."

Westerman said she expected about 25 entries when the organization called for pig- or bacon-themed art from local artists. Instead, it received work from more than 100 artists and raised about $12,000 for art projects in the community.

Entries ranged from small pig figurines holding "piggy picket" signs urging people to "Eat more veggies," to a carbonated soft drink made from a locally produced ale infused with fat from pork bellies.

"It's exciting," said Proof on Main chef Michael Paley. "There's nothing wrong with an event devoted completely to bacon."