Not every state can boast a Spam Jam complete with chef-inspired spam creations like they have in Waikiki. Most any state would probably prefer not to play host to the (beef) testicle festival, with eating competition, that Clinton, Montana is known for.
But Georgia also has bragging rights for some cool, and frankly, odd food festivals throughout the year. Most have become annual traditions for the region's foodies (and maybe a few flakes), showing off anything from peanuts to watermelon to victuals cooked in very old-school black pots.
If you want to fall in with festival planners, you've got to make plans early, kids.
That way you won't miss a single one of these odd yet wonderfulGeorgia food festivals perfect for the 2018 bucket list:
41st annual Vidalia Onion Festival
Wednesday, April 25 through Sunday, April 28, with a few earlier events thrown in.
100 Vidalia Sweet Onion Drive, Vidalia, Georgia. 912-538-8687.
No one here is worried about onion breath. They're too busy checking out the harvest of Georgia's official state vegetable, the famous Vidalia® Onion, training for the 5K Onion Run, competing to become Miss Vidalia Onion and/or planning a day of state fair amusement rides at the oniony carnival. This one's weird, but pretty well known, having gained coverage on Food Network and in Southern Living. But the winners of the onion recipe contest always come up with something new, and you'll never forget your first famous Vidalia Onion Eating Contest.
Every October
Shields-Ethridge Farm
2355 Ethridge Road, Jefferson, Georgia. 706-367-2949.
You haven't lived until you've tasted food cooked in a black pot, or more accurately, you haven't lived like an Appalachian. The Shields-Ethridge Heritage Farm is an outdoor agricultural museum that fires up the wood fires and cooks like it's 1799 once a year. You'll never forget your first taste of black pot chicken and dumplings simmered over an open fire, particularly if you helped fetch the wood.
Special events during a couple of weeks beginning June 2.
3rd Street and 2nd Avenue, Cordele, Georgia. 229-273-1668.
Sure, it's a tasty cucurbit, but does watermelon merit its own drawn-out celebration? The folks in Cordele sure do think so, and they host parades, watermelon eating, seed spitting contests and wedge after wedge of cool, crisp watermelon to prove it. This year marks the 67th celebration.
Saturday, Nov. 17
107 S Lee Street, Kingsland, Georgia. 912-729-5999.
Single out this one, Southern-style fish and do it up right for a whole day, that's the Kingsland motto. They've got the fixins, too, like grits and hush puppies and sweet tea. You might even want to pause from celebrating King Catfish and spend time at the parade or musical performances, but that's strictly up to you.
Credit: Contributed by the Chicken Livers and Gizzards Festival
Credit: Contributed by the Chicken Livers and Gizzards Festival
Chicken Livers and Gizzards Festival
November
Broxton, Georgia
Spend your life avoiding these delicacies if you must, but don't blame it on Broxton. The poultry-proud community awards a prize for the best chicken livers or gizzards recipe and the fete is pure small Southern town fun all the way.
Stone Mountain Pumpkin Festival
Sept. 28 through Oct. 28.
1000 Robert E. Lee Blvd.
Stone Mountain, Georgia. 800-401-2407.
Not your typical country food fest, but still a very fun way to revel in all that is swell about pumpkins, including a pie-eating contest and boardwalk games.
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