{"id":5,"date":"2013-08-25T00:01:37","date_gmt":"2013-08-25T05:01:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tonymast.com\/sfest\/?p=5"},"modified":"2025-07-09T16:04:14","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T21:04:14","slug":"what-is-sausage-fest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sausagefeststl.com\/?p=5","title":{"rendered":"What is Sausagefest?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Our Story<\/h2>\n

In October 2010, at Archon, a sci-fi, fantasy, gaming and media convention held annually in St. Louis, Sausagefest took place. \u00a0Sausagefest came from the mind of Tony Mast, host and creator of the Back Seat Producers podcast. It was born first as a room party and spun into something more. \u00a0Archon takes place in October, which also happens to be Breast Cancer Awareness Month. \u00a0When he was in the process of turning the Back Seat Producers<\/a> website pink, something they’ve done for the past few years to support awareness, Tony had the thought of collecting donations as part of the party. So on Saturday evening of the con, we ate, we drank and we collected over $500 in donations from people who wandered in and out of our room. I spoke to a few survivors and a parent of someone who was fighting the battle, and was struggling. \u00a0We had fun, there were hugs, and a few tears, and in the end, after taking donations from some folks who couldn’t be there in person, we raised $580.06<\/p>\n

The following year at Sausagefest 2 and Sausagefest West, we were able to fund the event and donate $800 to the charity.<\/p>\n

At Sausagefest 3, we blew things out of the water and after funding the event brought in $1,500 for BCRF.<\/p>\n

We blew past everything we did previously for Sausagefest 4 and raised $2100 for BCRF!<\/p>\n

Sausagefest 5 saw us with a few less donations before the event and the foot traffic the night of the event took a bit of a dip as well. We were still able to donate $1700 to BCRF.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Between Sausagefest 6 and 7 combined, we were able to donate $4600 to BCRF which was matched by an anonymous donor!<\/p>\n

At Sausagefest 8, we donated $3050 which was matched for our 2017 donation.<\/p>\n

\n

Sausagefest 9’s donation of $3800 was also matched by an anonymous donor, bring the 2018 total to $7600, the biggest and best yet.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Sausagefest 10 continued the trend.\u00a0 We were able to donate $4,120, which was TRIPLE Matched making it an effective donation of $12,360, absolutely shattering any records we ever dreamed of setting when this started.<\/p>\n

Sausagefest 11 – Virtual Sausagefest! was a product of necessity, as Archon had to postpone due to COVID-19.\u00a0 We hosted an online event, played some games and shared some drinks and raised $3,225, including donations collected through the month of October, which was triple matched to an effective donation of $9,675!<\/p>\n

Sausagefest 12 – The Year without a party.\u00a0 An unfortunately side effect of the Coronavirus Pandemic was that the 2021 Sausagefest had to be cancelled. COVID hit too close to home this year and we had to put the party on hold, we did, however, collect and donate $2,000 to BCRF and the donation was triple matched to an effective donation of $6,000!<\/p>\n

Sausagefest 13 – Live and in person!\u00a0 We were able to return to form at Archon in 2022 with Sausages and drinks and the room party once again!\u00a0 This year we were able to donate $2525 to BCRF and this year the donations were matched four times to an effective donation of $10,100!<\/p>\n

Sausagefest 14 – Son of Sausagfest.\u00a0 My son turned 21 and he and his partner joined the festivities and helped with the party!\u00a0 We were able to donate $3333 and our donations were matched 4 times for a total effective donation of $13,332!<\/p>\n

Sausagefest 15 – Sausagefest brought more drinks, smokies, cookies and chocolates to Archon and served up a donation of $2600, which was, again, matched 4 times making the effective donation $10,400 in 2024!<\/p>\n

To date, Sausagefest has been able to provide over $90,000 when including matched donations to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation \u00a0and $35,933 in direct donations to breast cancer charities since our inception.<\/p>\n

We want to make Sausagefest 16 continue the trend of being able to provide a fun night for con-goers to Archon<\/a>, while collecting donations to pass along and help fund the amazing work done over at www.bcrf.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

Please help us by donating and spreading the word!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The Impact<\/h2>\n

In a place that is normally about being with geeky friends, dressing up as our favorite characters and playing games with abandon, people will join us in helping those who are doing the work of real science in treating those afflicted with breast cancer.\u00a0It’s not just about awareness, it’s about research! We’re continuing our partnership with The Breast Cancer Research Foundation\u00ae.<\/p>\n

The Breast Cancer Research Foundation\u00ae<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

In 1994, the Breast Cancer Research Foundation awarded $159,000 to eight researchers in the United States. In 2014, they crossed a significant milestone by dedicating a record $58.6 million to breast cancer research, including $11.6 million from the Evelyn H. Lauder Founder\u2019s Fund focused on metastasis. BCRF\u00a0now supports 223 committed scientists on six continents. Today, BCRF stands as one of the largest private funders of breast cancer research in the world, and theyowe that all to us.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

What We Need<\/h2>\n

Space – ($600) A room for the weekend costs approximately $300 dollars. We hope to get two of them. \u00a0In the past, we’ve needed two rooms to handle all of the food, drinks and traffic through the event. \u00a0Also, we need a place to let people crash who have helped to support this event who are coming from one corner (Seattle, Washington) of the country or another (Tampa, Florida)\u2026 and all points in between.<\/p>\n

Event supplies – ($600) – Sausage, alcoholic beverages, mixers, cups, plates. etc. \u00a0The event will last about 4 hours. \u00a0We’ll have a few hundred people pass through the room and we want them to understand that while we are there for a cause, we also want to celebrate.<\/p>\n

Supporting paraphernalia ($500-$1000) – This depends on you! The more people who donate at the Perk levels, the more we’ll have to put into this pot. We won’t mind one bit if we have to up this number to cover the perks, because that means we are getting folks to donate to the cause.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

What You Get<\/h2>\n
You get a warm and fuzzy feeling knowing that you helped build awareness of Breast Cancer and Sausage.<\/div>\n
Also, there are some great perks you can pick up along the way.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Perk Levels<\/strong><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n