Celebrate the South at These Seven Spring Food Festivals

The South is full of great food festivals because the South is full of great food, whether in the field or rolling out of restaurant kitchens. From celebrations of wild-caught crawfish and sweet Vidalia onions to chef dinners in a vibrant city, this spring’s crop of culinary events looks fruitful.

Festivities kick off at 9:00 a.m. with—what else?—a pancake breakfast. West Virginia, after all, is a lesser-known maple syrup producer (as is neighboring Virginia, which hosts its own celebration of the sweet stuff). A rhythm of freezing nights and warm, sunny days gets the sap flowing in the state’s maple trees, making March prime time to taste the harvest. Visitors can tour the operation at Richter’s Maple House and Sugar Camp, which boils thousands of gallons of sap into syrup and other treats, then make the rounds at a quilt and craft show, dig into a ham-and-bean dinner, and, to work it all off, join a square dance.

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This four-day affair is serious about shellfish. Starting this year, all vendors are required to serve wild catch from within the state, so you can count on the quality of the 30,000-some pounds of boiled crawfish in circulation. Since its 1975 inception, the event has been a linchpin of the local economy of St. Bernard Parish, and in the fifteen years since Hurricane Katrina it has raised over two million dollars for the community—and thrice taken the title of Louisiana’s festival of the year.  

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As farmers discovered in 1920, the loamy, sandy soil of Poteet—a little town about twenty-five miles south of San Antonio—yields an unusually sweet crop of strawberries. After World War II, the community launched a festival to encourage soldiers to return home and farm, and in its seventy-ninth year, the celebration now includes a rodeo, a parade, a competition for best grower, and as many fresh berries as festivalgoers can take home. 

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Photo: Courtesy of VisitGreenvilleSC

Guests enjoy Southern bites at the Euphoria festival in downtown Greenville.

Greenville has recently made waves in the Southern food scene. Besides fielding its own crop of buzzy new restaurants, it hosted last year’s ceremony for the inaugural Michelin Guide South, with hometown restaurant Scoundrel earning a star. It’s safe to say this nonprofit festival—founded twenty years ago by musician Edwin McCain and local restaurateur Carl Sobocinski—helped fuel the city’s culinary rise. While Euphoria’s flagship event takes place in the fall, the spring edition brings a lineup of themed dinners, wine gatherings, cooking demonstrations, and concerts.

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Photo: Johnny Autry

Vidalia onions.

Though they command a cult following far beyond state lines, sweet Vidalia onions can only be grown in twenty counties in Georgia. If you can’t attend their namesake festival in their namesake town—featuring a carnival, recipe contest, onion art, and proximity to the Vidalia Onion Museum at 100 Sweet Onion Drive—then tip a cap to history and stop by a Piggly Wiggly, which was the first grocery store to stock them. (While you’re at it, cook up this addictive Vidalia onion pie.)

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The town of Mount Olive is home to the famed pickle company of the same name, which also turns out peppers and relishes. Beloved by chefs and home cooks alike, the brand got its start a century ago when a Lebanese immigrant saw opportunity in the wasted cucumber crops of area farmers. The festival celebrating that briny bounty marks a milestone of its own this year, turning forty with a pickle-eating contest, a fun run (electrolytes, covered), and a recipe competition with a coveted prize: a lifetime supply of Mt. Olive pickles.

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Thirty miles west of Chattanooga in the quaint town of South Pittsburg, cornbread enthusiasts gather each spring for concerts, a carnival, and plenty of the good stuff to sample. The location is no accident—Lodge, the country’s oldest manufacturer of cast iron, calls the area home and offers tours of its foundry during the festival. Of course, you’ll have to tear yourself away from Cornbread Alley, where cooks churn out all manner of fresh-baked flavors.