Bacon and the blues came together at the Tamaqua Station Restaurant to offer hope and healing to the community on Saturday.

Tamaqua Station Restaurant's Bacon and Blues Festival wasn't just a nod to everyone's favorite pork product and a quintessential American musical style, but a memorial to a beloved employee and an opportunity to promote awareness of the opioid epidemic."Last year, on National Bacon Day, Sept. 2, one of our employees said 'Why aren't we doing a bacon themed menu? We're a restaurant! We should be doing this!' So, he and my husband started brainstorming the event," owner Melanie Ross said.Just this past January, that employee, Matthew "Tuna" Osenbach, died as the result of an opioid overdose. As Osenbach was a fanatic musician, John and Melanie Ross thought that tying the blues to the bacon festival and providing the event's proceeds to combat the opioid problem could be great way to honor a fallen friend."We decided to do this in his memory, as something positive to give back to the town," Ross said. "Unfortunately, the epidemic is here in our community, and we suffer the consequences. But, we were able to take Tuna's inspiration for this event and turn it into something positive."The restaurant staff even volunteered to help for the event, going without pay for a night in order to increase the available fundraising.The event featured a full spread of bacon-centric dishes, from bacon wrapped scallops and loaded cheese french fries to California BLTs and smoked pork tenderloin wrapped in bacon. Bacon even crept into the desserts, including creme brulee with bacon and peanut butter pie with candied bacon crumbles."I had the burger with a fried egg and bacon, it was delicious," Paul Riffon, who came out for lunch with his wife MaryAnne, said. "I had a bacon appetizer, a big plate full of bacon with maple syrup, and now I've got a peanut butter pie with candied bacon. It's great."Despite the afternoon rain, festival goers had the opportunity to check out a variety of carnival games and enjoy live music from the likes of Phil Stahl, the Fat Cats, and the Big and Bad Rockabilly Cats.Groups like The Skook Recovers and Safer Streets for Tamaqua's Little Feet were on hand to answer questions about the opioid epidemic and recovery options."We were invited by Melanie and John, and we were honored to take that invite and make a presence, advocate for recovery, advocate for community involvement, and share our message," Travis Snyder said. "To see a local business step up and take the initiative to get involved, it's awesome what they're doing."Tuna's memory permeated the festival as patrons chowed down on bacon-loaded plates and listened to some twangy blues, and with some help from the community, no one will have to lose a friend like him again."This can be preventable," Safer Street's Tammy Sienkiewicz said. "If you know what the signs are, if you know what the symptoms are, if you know what it looks like, this can be preventable. If we all work together as a community, we can fight this drug epidemic that we are in."