JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
This Sunday, hundreds of people are expected to converge on the town of Isleton, south of Sacramento, Calif., all to celebrate one thing - Spam.
PAUL STEELE: I don't know what to tell you about it. It just - it tastes good (laughter).
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
This is the 25th annual Isleton Spam Festival, and this is the guy in charge.
STEELE: My name is Paul Steele, and I am the Spam king.
KELLY: And yes, the Spam king dresses the part.
STEELE: I come dressed like a big can of Spam. I have a hat that looks like a can of Spam and a suit that looks like a can of Spam.
SUMMERS: The festival's roots go back to the late 1990s, when a flood hit the town. Steele says everything perishable spoiled, but the Spam was spared.
STEELE: So in the midst of that, we just banded together and decided to make lemonade out of a lemon and see who could make the best Spam dish. And the festival was derived from that and is what it is today.
KELLY: On Sunday, there will be a Spam toss - from one person to another - and they are not throwing the can, to be clear, but the meat itself.
STEELE: It's like an egg toss, where, you know, you throw your Spam from one person to another. And then they step back 15 feet, and then they throw it back. And I think, last year, the new record was 80 feet. But by the time you get back to 80 feet, it's a little bit mushy, and it's a little bit slimy, and it's not totally all intact.
SUMMERS: There is also a Spam-eating contest, but no hands allowed.
KELLY: And a Spam cooking contest, too, where the canned ham and pork product features in, truly, like, all sorts of dishes.
STEELE: What these guys come up with is amazing. I mean, I've seen everything from Spam ice cream, Spam cupcakes, Spam jerky, Spam burritos and Spam tamales.
KELLY: Steele says his favorite dish from years past is actually the Spam cheesecake.
STEELE: It is the same texture of a regular cheesecake you would buy at a store. There was a glaze on top. There was caramelized Spam in it. It's white, but it's the exact same texture as a regular cheesecake.
KELLY: Actually kind of sounds good.
SUMMERS: I am less convinced. The festival is free to attend, though there is a small fee to participate in some of the events, which Steele says helps raise money for school supplies for the local PTA.
KELLY: As for Steele, after more than a decade as the Spam king, he says he's ready to pass on the crown - or the Spam can hat, as it were.
STEELE: I'm going to be turning over the reins this year to another person here in Isleton, Calif. So there's a time to retire, you know? And I think it's time to go.
KELLY: May we all know when it is time to go - to the Isleton Spam Festival, that is. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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