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SHEBOYGAN - "Chew! Chew! Chew!" could be heard throughout Sheboygan's Kiwanis Park on Saturday as men from around and outside the state competed for the title of all titles: winner of this year's Brat Eating contest.

Over 50 people sat at the base of Kiwanis Park, ready to take in the much-hyped event. Camera phones ready, the crowd chattered about contest favorites and familiar hometown faces.

I sat on the outskirts, enraptured. As they announced the men who hailed from faraway lands like Wood Dale, Illinois, and Neenah, I tried to predict who would be in for the long haul. One man had Gatorades set out to accompany his brats. Another had orange juice. Another had a towel ready to wipe down sweat (obviously a pro).

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Among the men were winners of years past. Champions of the brat. Brothers stood side by side, ready to finally determine the stronger sibling. Young and old, small and not small. They all looked poised and overly confident as five "naked" sausages were placed in front of them.

The rules were simple. Ten minutes. Eat as much as you can. The person who has consumed (no filling of the cheeks like Alvin and the Chipmunks allowed) the most sausages gets $300, a year's supply of Johnsonville sausage products and gets to donate $500 to a charity. Second place gets $150. Third place $50.

Nothing, though, prepared me for what happened after the judges said go.

Expectation: the men would take bites, chew, swallow, repeat. The winner might possibly get to 10 brats. Max.

Reality: a dozen men shoveled, smooshed, gorged and devoured those sausages like their lives depended on them. It was a beautiful car accident. A site where one is grimacing but also unable to do anything but cheer them on.

One host of the event wore a poncho. Apparently, in years past, some of the contestants were unable to keep the sausages down. I stepped back a pace or two when they said that part.

As I watched, I noticed that while slightly insane, the crowds, the people of Sheboygan, loved it. I could see why.

The Brat Eating contest was just one of the many events and attractions throughout the 65th annual Brat Days. The annual sausage appreciation day put on by the Sheboygan Jaycees got the community together to do everything classic Sheboygan: watch a parade, drink some beer and wolf down some bratwurst.

The first day, Friday, was filled with concerts held throughout Kiwanis Park. Local and nonlocal bands performed for the masses as they celebrated the titular brats.

Day two started at 7 a.m. (no joke) with a race called the Brat Trot. At 9 a.m., everyone gathered in downtown to watch a parade (also celebrating bratwurst). I knew then the importance of Brat Days, because Sheboygan takes its parades very seriously.

Men and women, children and adults, were dressed as sausages, Olaf, SpongeBob and others as they made their way down 8th Street.

I was given free cheese, a banana and a stuffed zebra-pig among others.

The mayor rode ahead of hopeful politicians, high school dance teams shaking and jiving to the beats of Psy and Beyoncé, community bands loaded on the backs of semis and children being adorable.

A Mainer myself, I have never seen such devotion to sausage or anything remotely close, in my entire life.

The Brat Eating contest followed the parade and, while it lasted all of 10 minutes, it was the most charged 10 minutes I've experienced since coming to Sheboygan.

I'm a poor judge of eating contests, many of the people I thought would be titans quickly got eliminated after five brats. You could see the heavy sausage weighing on their stomachs as the speed with which they consumed the meat slowly decreased.

All but one.

Blaize Koon, the eventual winner kept an even pace throughout the 10 minutes. The 2016 champion, he was knocking back sausages like nothing. I later learned that he is a food eating challenge pro. A Neenah native, he goes around the state eating up his competition and making a lot of money.

By the end of the 10 minutes, he had devoured 17 brats. Now if you think he got sick or was tired after, you'd be wrong. Only an hour later, he competed in the ice cream cake eating competition. He didn't win that one. He didn't do well, actually. I can think of, maybe, 17 reasons why.

When asked what he would use the $300 for, he said he'd probably use it to buy food. What a guy.

Thus concluded the highlights from my very first Brat Days. Fun and a little strange but very Sheboygan. It could have been much wurst.

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