To honor National Bologna Day, Truman State University, Kraft Heinz and Kirksville are joining forces to create a festival inspired almost entirely by bologna. Bologna Festival from 3-5:30 p.m. Oct. 21 in downtown Kirksville.
Bolognafest will offer many activities. There will be children’s games, live musical performances and bologna-inspired food. Kool-Aid Man and Spike will also be present at the festival to interact and take photos with. It is intended for all ages and is free to attend.
The morning of the festival, the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile will appear in Truman’s homecoming parade. It will also be at the festival for community members to enjoy.
“There are a ton of games for people to come and play,” said Tyana Lange, vice president for student engagement enrollment and marketing. “We have lots of volunteers that will be doing those old-fashioned carnival or minute-to-win-it kind of games, and then, you will earn prize tickets to go to the prize table. There is everything from candy to small stuffed animals and just typical fun prizes for kids.”
Sodexo, the main food provider for Truman, will be catering this event. There will be dishes inspired by bologna that everyone can appreciate. The fried bologna sandwich and bologna soup are just two items available. To wash it all down, there will also be cups of Kool-Aid available.
Kraft Heinz hopes this festival will show the Kirksville community more about Oscar Mayer. Globally, all Oscar Mayer bologna is made and produced in Kirksville.
“We wanted to create an employee — and family-friendly event to support what we do here in Kirksville,” said Megan Gregory, senior HR business partner. “This was a great way to recognize our employees, their contribution to the community and also let our community members taste a little bit of what we make with the bologna here at the factory.”