Cards Bike one year later, FORR Leather and lace ... - The Biking Life

Rocky Mountain Oysters in Illinois??
For almost a year now, we have been running an ad for this
place that talks about being the home of Mudd & Peg’s
Testicle Festival. That place is the Sportsman’s Club in Mt.
Sterling, IL. I was out running the states of Missouri and
Illinois recently which is required to bring our readers all
the most interesting stories. I found myself in Mt. Sterling
so I searched for this establishment. Not only did I find it,
but I was in luck, the owner was there to.
The owners are Kevin and Peg Huston. Kevin is also known
as Mudd; ask him about that name when you see him. I had
heard of Testicle Festivals before, but had never attended
one so I asked the obvious question, what is a TF? This
year’s will be the 3 rd Annual Testicle Festival; a big street
party where the main foods are the testicles of bulls, tom
turkeys, lamb and boars. If that doesn’t appeal to you foods
are available other than the ‘delicacies.’
The festival takes place the Saturday before Father’s Day,
somewhat fitting I guess. At last years event, over four
hundred pounds of ‘delicacies’ were consumed: sixty
pounds of turkey nuts which tastes like chicken nuggets
I’m told, one hundred forty pounds of pork balls which are
similar to chicken gizzards, lamb which supposedly tastes
like brains. But to paraphrase Samuel L Jackson’s character
in Pulp Fiction, “I’ll never know cause I ain’t going to eat
the filthy mothers.” Well not exactly like that, but it was
the only way I could figure out how to get that into the
magazine. Kevin told me people prefer turkey, but Kevin
likes them all.
This festival has grown every year. The first year, more
than 1,500 folks showed up in part because a church group
started a petition against a banner for the festival. That
petition caught the media’s attention and the next thing you
know, this festival in Mt. Sterling, IL, is being included in
the monologues of Jay Leno and David Letterman.
Somehow I don’t think that was what the good church folks
had in mind. Well, the following year the event almost
doubled in size.
This is a street festival that helps a worthy cause every
year. The first year the proceeds went to the church folk
who protested. Then last year, it went to a child who has
Rhett’s Syndrome, but that became controversial too. So
this year, the benefactor will be Blessing Hospital Cancer
Center in Quincy. Kevin really likes the idea that the money
raised stays in the area helping his friends and neighbors.
They close the street down on Friday night so the vendors
can set up and they can start preparing the food. In addition
to being a different kind of food festival, there is live music,
an auction and a bike show too. During the afternoon a
Blue Grass band will be playing. The fun and activities last
well into the night and, from the sounds of it, everyone has
a great time. This year’s event is right around the corner; it
will take place on June 17 th . I am certainly hoping I’ll be
able to make it for another day of fun and the opportunity
to see more of the magazine’s friends. I hope to see you
there too.