Sausage festival links fun and food

 With several fun rides, crafts, food and live entertainment by performers such as singer and songwriter Trent Tomlinson, families are sure to enjoy their time at the 24th annual Beulah Sausage Festival, March 19-21.     

 Beau Rodrique, the Beulahfest chairman, said the event started with an appreciation spaghetti dinner that the Beulah Volunteer Fire Department had for the community using left over money from a door-to-door collection  drive in 1985.  

   
The boot drive was how the fire department raised money to purchase fire fighting equipment before there were taxes to fund fire departments.

“After they got all they needed that year, they decided to give back the best way they could,” Rodrique said.    

The event was formerly known as the Beulah Sausage Festival, and sausage is still the main food item that is served. Rodrique said that they cook about 6,400 pounds of Thompson’s Cajun and Italian sausage over the entire weekend.     

“This is the first year that we changed the name just so we could kind of open ourselves up to possibly another avenue, entertainment-wise,” he said. 

 
“For the last several years, we’ve had quite a few Nashville country artists – Taylor Swift, Darryl Worley, Craig Morgan and Tracy Byrd.  

“This year we have Charlie Daniels, Joe Diffie, Trent Tomlinson, and then we have several local acts, as far as our main headlines go,” Rodrique said.

The festival will also include a 5K charity run, a motorcycle ride to benefit Sacred Heart’s Miracle Camp and a firematics competition, in which area fire departments will compete for trophies.  

Aside from the many food vendors and live entertainment, rides furnished by James Gang Amusements will include a mechanical bull, as well as a rollercoaster ride. French fries, ice cream sundaes, elephant ears and other carnival foods will also be included, Rodrique said.

Rodrique said that all money raised from Beulahfest goes to local charities, organizations and towards the following year’s festival. He said that no one is paid to help put the festival together.   

“Me, being the chairman, I’m not paid at all,” he said. “This is 100 percent volunteer for me and for everybody else that’s on our team.”  

Funds raised from the event go toward organizations such as Sacred Heart Miracle Camp, WEAR’s First Book of Pensacola, several local churches, ball fields and the Beulah Academy of Science.  

Beulahfest will be held at the Escambia County Equestrian Center located at 7750 Mobile Highway. Tickets are $5 Friday and $10 Saturday and Sunday. Prepaid weekender passes are $18, and the family fun pack is $60.

 
About 40,000 visitors are expected at the event, Rodrique said.      

     
“Every year we grow and grow and add more things and really try to put on a bigger and better festival,” he said. “You certainly can’t see the names that we bring in from Nashville for $5 and $10 by any means anywhere else.”   

For more information about Beulahfest, visit www.beulahfest.com.