Unbelievably American festival features a 200-pound burger and 'ketchup slide'
The town of Seymour, Wisconsin, boldly (but not uncontroversially) declares itself "the Original Home of the Hamburger," so basically its annual fête of the sandwich better be the bomb. That's a lot of responsibility, but luckily for them, it sounds like the celebration is delivering: At this year's fest, which is next weekend, there will be 2,500 pounds of burgers, hamburger-cooking and -eating contests, and the "world's largest hamburger parade," but the "big event is the ketchup slide," organizer Jim Campbell says. "I'm not sure why, but people sure like to watch contestants slide in ketchup."
See photos of the tastiest burgers around the country
Naturally, there's a large fire pit where 180 pounds of beef (plus some eggs and oatmeal, for glue) simmer to perfection over four hours in a custom-made oven. Once all crevices are sufficiently glazed from the ketchup slide, attendees can apparently return to the behemoth burger, which receives an additional 20 pounds of bun, cheese, mustard, ketchup, and pickles, and is then hacked into hunks and served free.
There will also be 1,200 pounds of French fries. "The vegetarians need something to eat," Campbell says.
