Stephanie Jaquelyn Rieke at Onion River Campground Credit: Courtesy of Stephanie Jaquelyn Rieke

At the end of July, Nutty Steph’s is pulling the curtain on evening activities at the zany Middlesex shop. Owner Stephanie Jaquelyn Rieke will continue manufacturing her retail line of chocolates, granolas and other sweets, “but no more beverages of any kind, no bacon and no nightlife,” she says.

For the next three weeks, Rieke will host weekly Bacon Thursday events featuring live music, heaps of crisp bacon and sweet sauces for dipping. On July 30, a final blowout will bring 24 hours of bacon, starting at 10 a.m. and running until the pork runs out.

Rieke says it is time to move on. Three years ago, she purchased the Onion River Campground near the Plainfield/Marshfield town line, where she now lives and where she plans to continue hosting community and cultural events — including a Jazzy-oke party in August, and a Weirdo Fest on Saturday, July 18. “Incidentally, there’s a free community pig roast [at the Weirdo Fest],” Rieke says. “So the pork continues.”

The original print version of this article was headlined “(Not) Makin’ Bacon”

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Hannah Palmer Egan was a Seven Days food writer from 2014-2019. She was a 2017 James Beard Journalism Award finalist for her coverage of Vermont's food and agriculture industries, and received food writing awards from the Association of Alternative Newsmedia....