Lansing’s Olive Burger Festival is returning for its second year in October. 2,500 people sold out last year's event at Jackson Field to try local restaurants' take on the olive burger, participate in or spectate a burger-eating contest and celebrate the iconic dish.
This year’s festival will allow for almost double the number of attendees and plenty of olive sauce to enjoy.
To discuss the festival, WKAR's Sophia Saliby spoke with Erin Brains, the event coordinator with Lansing Foodies, at Weston’s Kewpee Sandwich Shoppe in downtown Lansing.
Interview Highlights
On what an olive burger is
There are a couple of different styles. The classic one that we think about is that it's a regular burger patty made of meat, not olives or plant-based. And then it has a sauce that's mayonnaise-based with sliced green olives in it. But there are other versions, too. I see it a lot in Flint or other places where they'll have the green olives sliced and sautéed separately, and then just a healthy amount of mayonnaise, and sometimes that sauce has some garlic salt or something delicious in there.
On the community's response to the festival
We had a lot of positive feedback from the community coming up to the event. A lot of people after the event said that they couldn't get in, and a lot of people eager to see us do it again. And it was something that we definitely went into it thinking that this is something we want to make something annual, and it was very validating and exciting that people wanted to see that happen.
Interview Transcript
Sophia Saliby: Lansing’s Olive Burger Festival is returning for its second year in October. This year’s event will allow for almost double the number of attendees than last year and have plenty of olive sauce to enjoy.
I spoke with Erin Brains, the event coordinator with Lansing Foodies, at where else but Weston’s Kewpee Sandwich Shoppe to talk about the festival. I started by asking her why she chose Weston's for our interview among all of the restaurants that serve olive burgers.
Erin Brains: Well, Kewpee is olive burgers in many people's minds because they invented it over 100 years ago at, I think, their Flint location. But they've won burger contests with their olive burgers, so this is kind of the quintessential olive burger joint.
Saliby: I have to be honest here for you and for our listeners: I don't like mayo, so I've never had an olive burger. So, for those who haven't had one like me, what makes a good olive burger?
Brains: There are a couple of different styles. The classic one that we think about is that it's a regular burger patty made of meat, not olives or plant-based. And then it has a sauce that's mayonnaise-based with sliced green olives in it.
But there are other versions, too. I see it a lot in Flint or other places where they'll have the green olives sliced and sautéed separately, and then just a healthy amount of mayonnaise, and sometimes that sauce has some garlic salt or something delicious in there.
Saliby: What was the response to last year's festival? Because you pretty much sold out of tickets right after the event started.
Brains: Yeah, it was a little overwhelming because we'd never done this before. And it was our first year and we sold out, like you said, right away, within half an hour of opening the gates. And it was really great. We had a lot of positive feedback from the community coming up to the event.
A lot of people after the event sad that they couldn't get in, and a lot of people eager to see us do it again. And it was something that we definitely went into it thinking that this is something we want to make something annual, and it was very validating and exciting that people wanted to see that happen.
My goal is to get twice as many olive burger vendors, so that we can not only have twice as many people coming, but also that we can feed them all, and that there's more people in there competing to have the best olive burger.
Saliby: So last year had entertainment. There was an eating contest. How is this year going to be a better version or a bigger version of that?
Brains: So this year, we took a lot from what we did last year and just really honed in on what worked really well so that we could keep those elements and then what we could build on to make it a better experience.
We will still have the olive burger eating contest, so that the winner from last year's got to go to the [Lansing] Lugnuts' olive burgers game and compete against Joey Chestnut. And we're hoping that Joey Chestnut will come back to retain his record and maybe beat it.
But we do have the entertainment. We're adding to our entertainment lineup, so that it's keeping it fresh and exciting for people over there. Most importantly, we're looking to get, probably my goal is to get twice as many olive burger vendors, so that we can not only have twice as many people coming but also that we can feed them all, and that there's more people in there competing to have the best olive burger.
Saliby: I know you're still figuring out all the vendors, but can you talk about local representation so far of who you know will be at the festival?
Brains: We will have our returning champions: Hard Knocks Food Truck is going to be there, and Joe-Lee's Crosswinds Cafe from Owosso, which if you've never been, it's right on an airport like that little Owosso airport, so you can watch planes fly in to get their delicious food. They're both going to be there. We're going to have a lot of the same vendors as last year.
And then we're working on getting some new vendors. This year, we're going to have Slice [by] Saddleback bring in olive burger pizza, which will be really exciting. And just a lot of local places. We're talking with the Lansing Brewing Company, and of course, we want Kewpee to come but we are also reaching outside of just the direct Lansing area.
Saliby: To end this conversation, as we were sitting down for this interview, you said you do this event for your husband. Can you kind of talk about the love that you have for him and the love that he has for olive burgers?
Brains: My husband and I started Lansing Foodies because we both wanted to find out where to eat here in town. And James is from the area and he just loves all burgers. But then, this area, he went to college here, and just loved the olive burgers.
It's just a great way to celebrate Lansing, which we both love, and then also this, you know, delicious burger that he could eat every day of the week.
And we were just sitting down, and him and his good friend were eating olive burgers. And I was like, you know, "So, when's olive burger festival?" when we first moved here six years ago, and there wasn't one, and we've just been noodling on it. And when we got the grant from Facebook, it was like, All right, I can use all of my skills to do the event coordination and make this festival happen, but it's just a great way to celebrate Lansing, which we both love, and then also this, you know, delicious burger that he could eat every day of the week.
Saliby: That was Erin Brains, the event coordinator with Lansing Foodies and one of the organizers of Lansing's Olive Burger Festival. The event takes place October 5th at Jackson Field. We were speaking at Weston's Kewpee Sandwich Shoppe in downtown Lansing.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness.
