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MT. STERLING, ILL. -- A Mount Sterling tradition was brought back to life Saturday, after being on hiatus for the past four years.

The Sports Man's Club bar held its renowned Testicle Festival Saturday drawing in new participants.

"They taste just like a pork tenderloin," Robert Sampson, a first time fried testicle taster said. "It doesn't taste really any different than some other piece of the pork that you eat, it doesn't really taste that much different."

The name may make you hesitant to try it, but some people don't mind testicles, as long as they're cooked right.

"We have to process the hog testicles, which involves cutting them up and skinning them and then we bring them here and they're all flowered and fried," Nicole Wachter, The Sports Man's Club manager and Testicle Festival organizer said.

There were 170 pounds of pork testicles and 60 pounds of turkey testicles waiting to go through that process and be served at the Testicle Festival, but at The Sports Man's Club, frying up testicles is nothing new.

"It used to be a very small event just hosted inside the bar," Tim Wachter, The Sports Man's Club co-manager and Testicle Festival organizer said. "The local farmers would get together after they harvested testicles and they would come up here and fry them up as sort of a thank you to all the patrons at the bar."

In 2003, that small gathering took to the streets as a festival. It became so popular the bar decided to take a break from hosting it in 2008. Now, the fried treats are making a return.

"We're extremely excited. We hope to have a bunch of people to show up. We're expecting anywhere from 500, but we're hoping to have 1,000 people," Nicole said.

If you're still skeptical, try not to focus on the name. The taste is more familiar than you think.

"Some people compare them to chicken livers, some people compare them to chicken, and the turkey I hear is the best," Tim said.