Plano Bologna Sandwich Day

Sandwich, Illinois is a town of 7500 about 60 miles west and a little south of Chicago.

Plano, with a population of 11,000 or so, is its neighbor to the east.

Between the two towns is a wooded area that residents have jokingly called Bologna, IL for years. For the past 3 years, on National Bologna Day, Sandwich and Plano have come together to make Bologna, IL a “real” town, just for a few hours.

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Called “Plano-Bologna-Sandwich Day,” the small festival is held annually on October 24th, National Bologna Day, and benefits local food charities. Bologna sandwiches are available for a donation of non-perishable food items or $5, and the fest features events such as the .005K Fun Run, a race traversing a 16 foot course starting in Plano, working its way through downtown Bologna, and ending in Sandwich.

First, though, the honorary mayors of Bologna have to be sworn in. The police chiefs of Plano and Sandwich stood as today’s mayors, placing their hands on the ceremonial bologna chub and reciting the oath of office.

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Officiants in the day’s festivities apparently received this handsome hat, which I covet even now. Next year I’ll have to announce that I’m coming–surely an internationally-recognized sandwich expert would be a celebrity at such an event.

However, the hat was not my aim in attending. No, I was there to celebrate National Bologna Day the only way I know how–by standing in a festival line to buy sandwiches.

The sandwiches consisted of a 1/2″ thick or so slab of bologna, grilled, on a sturdy hamburger bun, with your choice of mustard, grilled onions, and pickle relish as condiments.

There was ketchup as well, though they weren’t offering it verbally. That Chicago influence extends even to Bologna, IL apparently. Mindy and Ian were with me, and while Mindy and I both took our sandwiches with everything, Ian opted for the plain-old bologna sandwich.

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We took our haul of sandwiches, along with a couple of pops and a bratwurst, over to the dining tent and dug in. As good as the bratwurst was, I was more interested in the bologna sandwich. Not only because it was the reason we came, but because it was good bologna, well-grilled, and presented with a suitable array of condiments, but there was something tickling at the back of my mind while I was eating it. You know, if this bun had been toasted, this sandwich would have been an awful lot like the Finnish Porilainen we covered a while back.

After our sandwiches and the swearing-in ceremony, in which we had all been made honorary citizens of Bologna, our son Ian elected to take part in the .005K Fun Run. There was another $5 donation involved, but as a parent I’m willing to pay that price to get a child to put down their Nintendo Switch and get 2 or 3 seconds of exercise.

Warming the crowd up, the MC asked if anyone had ever run through 3 towns in one day before. There was a show of hands. He then asked if anyone had ever run through 3 towns in a couple of seconds before. Apparently several people had taken part in one of these Fun Runs before. There was a building of tension as dozens of people massed up at the starting line, then…

Several children broke the ribbon simultaneously, as an older adult fell down behind them, causing a chain reaction of other folks falling as well. Ian was near the carnage, but managed to avoid it.

Afterwards he went to retrieve his reward for participating in the Fun Run, a shiny medal bearing the triumphant and motivational phrase “Even I can run for 16 feet.”

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As we circulated through the crowd congratulating the other participants in the Fun Run, we naturally gravitated toward a certain type. We know who our people are.

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To congratulate Ian on his standing finish, we bought him a commemorative shirt as well, before heading back home in the deepening twilight of the chilly autumn evening.

All told, the Plano-Bologna-Sandwich festival was an investment of 4 hours of our time including the drive there and back, and around $50 including sandwiches, chips, drinks, a bratwurst, Fun Run entry fee, and a $20 t-shirt. Not bad for a small-town festival.

As the locals who joined us at our table were telling me though, Sandwich has a much larger annual festival the week after Labor Day. Held since 1888, the Sandwich Fair is a 5-day county fair-type show with music, food vendors, livestock judging, tractor pulls. After today, I’m leaning toward checking it out in 2020. Our fellow citizens of “Bologna, IL” were sure proud of it.