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SIZZLE CITY — Friday, Cedar City ceased to exist. In its place, just for the day, was Sizzle City.
Why the name change? Because they just love bacon. The mayor even made a proclamation that for the day, the city would be known as Sizzle City.
"That's how much America loves bacon," said comedian and bacon guy Josh Sankey. "What more can I say than that?"
Sankey has teamed up with Oscar Mayer to prove just how much Americans love bacon. He is travelling from New York to Los Angeles with only bacon to trade for what he needs. No cash, no credit cards, just bartering with bricks of the fatty meat.
"I like bacon," he said. "And I get out into America and realized how much people really love bacon."
Cedar City was not on Sankey's original list of stops, but the town showed him just how badly they wanted him to come.
"If we were going to be Sizzle City for a day, we wanted to show all the different aspects that make Cedar City sizzle," said Cedar City Tourism Bureau Bonnie Shar Oldroyd.
The bacon guy says changing a city's name is the craziest trade he's ever received, and that it shows the power of bacon.
"It tastes great, it makes people happy, I enjoy it," Sankey said.
For citizens of the town formerly known as Cedar City, they enjoyed the bacon and the bartering.
"We traded an orange leather jacket for 36 bricks of bacon," said Brantz Woolsey. "That's 36 pounds of bacon. That's over $100 in bacon we're going to eat. We're pretty happy."
"I love Oscar Mayer bacon on tomato sandwiches," said Jerry Mason, a Sizzle City resident. "I'm hoping if my wife can pull off a barter, we'll have that tomorrow."
Saturday, the city will readopt its previous name.
