In South Pittsburg, TN they celebrate with a full week of cornbread-related activities, culminating in the big bash downtown on the last full weekend each April. We joined the festivities on Sunday (4-23-22) and sampled some of the finest cornbread I’ve ever encountered. Over 350 local volunteers come together to handle everything from free parking to booking talent and vendors. It was well-run and fun.
Local maker of heirloom-quality cast iron cookware in South Pittsburg, Tennessee since 1896, Lodge Cast Iron is a perfect sponsor for for the National Cornbread Festival.
A stretch of Cedar Avenue through the historic old town buildings of South Pittsburg is closed down for a string of vendors hawking handcrafted wares and heart-stopping food. Carnival rides zinged and whizzed at the far end of town.
I tossed three rings at tiered cans of Bush’s beans and won a lunch box, Bush koozie and skillet trivet. A can of beans was also given to everyone who participated. The political sign was an omen.
Cornbread Alley was the main attraction. For 8-bucks you got samples of 9 award-winning cornbreads. The line moved fast. the presentation was clean and the cornbread mouth-watering.
These gals knew a thing or two about making scrumptious cornbread. They were also a hoot to chat with. Their chicken and dressing cornbread was delightful.
The Sweet Georgia Peach Cornbread Lady told me to go ahead and put my dollars in her voting jar, because her cornbread would make me want to shout its praises. It turned out to be my favorite.
After sampling a wild assortment of exceptional cornbreads, the Sweet Georgia Peach was my top choice. It was lip-smacking, tummy-tantalizing tasty!
Karen favored the Tennessee Mud Cornbread that she said, “Tasted like cake.” There were crumbs all over everything at the table to prove people ate it as fast as the gal could dish it out to them.
There was live music from local musicians and bigger names like; Merl Haggard’s boy Ben and a firecracker of a mandolin player, Rhonda Vincent & her band The Rage to keep things hopping. It was a warm, sunny weekend in the low 80’s and the crowd was well behaved, because they were all stuffed full of super-yummy cornbread.