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Battle of the bands? No, just one of the best college concert bands in Pa.

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Seven men entered, but only one could bring home the bacon.</p><p>The Anthracite Cafe, hosted its inaugural bacon eating competition&#8212;participants were given 15 minutes to consume as much as they could, with the winner receiving a shirt, hat, gift card and pint glass.</p><p>Competitor Travis Lindenmoyer, 38, said training for the event required an intense regimen.</p><p>&#8220;I trained hard, real hard,&#8221; said Lindenmoyer, of Lehighton. &#8220;I ate a pound of bacon every single day, I drank the grease, I used it on my hair, I used it on my beard. You know, the normal.&#8221;</p><p>Seated next to Lindenmoyer was Dominic Totino, 42, of Bear Creek. Totino said his training consisted of visiting Anthracite Cafe every day of the Scott Street restaurant&#8217;s bacon week celebration.</p><p>&#8220;There&#8217;s no words that can describe how much I love bacon,&#8221; Totino said. &#8220;It&#8217;s like a lifestyle.&#8221;</p><p>Six years ago, bacon week at Anthracite Cafe was started because of like-minded folk. Restaurant owner Mike Prushinski said this year has been his busiest bacon week yet, and he contributes the promotion&#8217;s continued success to the pork&#8217;s popularity.</p><p>&#8220;Ninety percent of the people get bacon,&#8221; Prushinski said. &#8220;We offer our regular menu, but last night (Friday) we sold 600 bacon items and 34 regular dinner items.&#8221;</p><p>Those bacon-centric items make up a separate menu, consisting of dishes like pork belly burnt ends &#8212; Prushinski described it as &#8220;like eating a piece of bacon candy&#8221; &#8212; and something called the bacon explosion.</p><p><strong>&#8216;Jaws were hurting&#8217;</strong></p><p>Prushinski said the restaurant tries to find different ways to prepare and present bacon every year. But at 2 p.m. Saturday, the spotlight shifted from Anthracite Cafe&#8217;s culinary achievements to seven men served chrome tubs full of cooked bacon.</p><p>The contestants agreed their greatest competition was Russell Keeler, 48, of Kingston. Keeler, whose previous competitive eating victories include the 2018 Middleswarth potato chip-eating contest, approached bacon with trepidation.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s different than a lot of things, it&#8217;s going to be interesting,&#8221; Keeler said. &#8220;Pretty much I think everybody likes bacon. Unless you&#8217;re vegan, but I think some vegans secretly eat bacon. I&#8217;m not so sure if we&#8217;re going to like it afterward, but tomorrow we&#8217;re probably going to like it again.&#8221;</p><p>Keeler started the competition on his feet, taking in handfuls of bacon and washing it down with soda. Lindenmoyer, who also opted to start standing, used his pitcher of water to lubricate the meat for easier consumption.</p><p>Geoff Baumes, 35, described his strategy as focused.</p><p>&#8220;I just kept my head down, tried to keep my breathing under control,&#8221; Baumes said. &#8220;It was a lot of chewing and then you needed some liquid to wash everything down, so you couldn&#8217;t just rely on raw talent &#8212; you needed a little help. You needed some good jawbones and a lot of lubrication to get it down.&#8221;</p><p>Baumes, himself a veteran of hot dog-eating contests and Middleswarth&#8217;s chip-eating contest, placed second at Anthracite Cafe by eating 1 pound, 8 ounces. Keeler emerged as the bacon king after he consumed 1 pound, 14 ounces</p><p>&#8220;Bacon wasn&#8217;t the best &#8212; it was a tough contest,&#8221; Keeler said. &#8220;We all thought it was going to be fun because we all get to eat bacon, but after a while it started to wear. We all talked about how our jaws were hurting.&#8221;</p><p>Baumes said he already knows how he&#8217;s going to prepare for next year. </p><p>&#8220;Probably just a lot of jaw exercises, maybe just chewing through some really tough stuff for 10, 15 minutes at a time,&#8221; he said.</p><p>But in the immediate aftermath of the competition, Baumes just wanted to enjoy the rest of bacon week.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s all too new. I&#8217;m just going to get my free beer and think about it tomorrow.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Anthracite Cafe owner Mike Prushinski weighs leftover bacon for each contestant to determine who consumed the most bacon during an eating competition Saturday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_ttl030319baconeatingcontest-4-1-1-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Anthracite Cafe owner Mike Prushinski weighs leftover bacon for each contestant to determine who consumed the most bacon during an eating competition Saturday. </caption0><photoCredit0>Amanda Hrycyna | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_ttl030319baconeatingcontest-6-1-1-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Geoff Baumes, of Pittston Township, had a moment where the bacon didn&#8217;t agree with him during Anthracite Cafe&#8217;s bacon-eating competition Saturday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_ttl030319baconeatingcontest-6-1-1-1.jpg</photo1><caption1>Geoff Baumes, of Pittston Township, had a moment where the bacon didn&#8217;t agree with him during Anthracite Cafe&#8217;s bacon-eating competition Saturday. </caption1><photoCredit1>Amanda Hrycyna | For Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_ttl030319baconeatingcontest-7-1-1-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Russell Keeler, of Kingston, tries to eat as much bacon as possible during Saturday&#8217;s competition at the Anthracite Cafe in Wilkes-Barre. When all the chomping was done, Keeler emerged victorious with a grand total of 1 pound, 14 ounces consumed. He beat out six other entrants. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_ttl030319baconeatingcontest-7-1-1-1.jpg</photo2><caption2>Russell Keeler, of Kingston, tries to eat as much bacon as possible during Saturday&#8217;s competition at the Anthracite Cafe in Wilkes-Barre. When all the chomping was done, Keeler emerged victorious with a grand total of 1 pound, 14 ounces consumed. He beat out six other entrants. </caption2><photoCredit2>Amanda Hrycyna | For Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_ttl030319baconeatingcontest-5-1-1-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Llyod Rittenhouse, of Scranton, competes in a bacon-eating contest Saturday afternoon at the Anthracite Cafe in Wilkes-Barre. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_ttl030319baconeatingcontest-5-1-1-1.jpg</photo3><caption3>Llyod Rittenhouse, of Scranton, competes in a bacon-eating contest Saturday afternoon at the Anthracite Cafe in Wilkes-Barre. </caption3><photoCredit3>Amanda Hrycyna | For Times Leader </photoCredit3></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_ttl030319baconeatingcompetition-8-1-1-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Russell Keeler, of Kingston, raises his arms in triumph with his title belt in hand after he was named Anthracite Cafe&#8217;s bacon-eating champion during Saturday&#8217;s competition. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo4>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_ttl030319baconeatingcompetition-8-1-1-1.jpg</photo4><caption4>Russell Keeler, of Kingston, raises his arms in triumph with his title belt in hand after he was named Anthracite Cafe&#8217;s bacon-eating champion during Saturday&#8217;s competition. </caption4><photoCredit4>Amanda Hrycyna | For Times Leader </photoCredit4></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_ttl030319baconeatingcontest-3-1-1-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Contestants Kevin Sickle, Geoff Baumes, Jerome Schatzel, Russell Keeler, Lloyd Rittenhouse, Dominic Totino and Travis Lindenmoyer compete in a bacon-eating contest at Anthracite Cafe in Wilkes-Barre on Saturday afternoon. Keeler won with a grand total eaten of 1 pound, 14 ounces. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo5>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_ttl030319baconeatingcontest-3-1-1-1.jpg</photo5><caption5>Contestants Kevin Sickle, Geoff Baumes, Jerome Schatzel, Russell Keeler, Lloyd Rittenhouse, Dominic Totino and Travis Lindenmoyer compete in a bacon-eating contest at Anthracite Cafe in Wilkes-Barre on Saturday afternoon. Keeler won with a grand total eaten of 1 pound, 14 ounces. </caption5><photoCredit5>Amanda Hrycyna | For Times Leader </photoCredit5></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_ttl030319baconeatingcontest-1-1-1-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Travis Lindenmoyer, of Lehighton, tries to consume as much bacon as possible during a 15-minute bacon-eating contest Saturday at the Anthracite Cafe on Scott Street in Wilkes-Barre. The competition was part of Anthracite&#8217;s bacon week festivities. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo6>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_ttl030319baconeatingcontest-1-1-1-1.jpg</photo6><caption6>Travis Lindenmoyer, of Lehighton, tries to consume as much bacon as possible during a 15-minute bacon-eating contest Saturday at the Anthracite Cafe on Scott Street in Wilkes-Barre. The competition was part of Anthracite&#8217;s bacon week festivities. </caption6><photoCredit6>Amanda Hrycyna | For Times Leader </photoCredit6></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Eating contest at WB cafe proves tough on jaws</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Gene Axton</p><p>For Times Leader</p></bylineMeta></div>

Jaws get workout at WB cafe’s bacon-eating contest