NASHVILLE, TN — The Music City Hot Chicken Festival presented by Piedmont Natural Gas will once again heat up Nashville this July 4 as the city’s top hot chicken establishments, amateur contestants and hot chicken aficionados all converge to celebrate Nashville’s 
culinary gift to the world. The event will be held Thursday, July 4 in East Park, 700 Woodland Street. The festival commences with the Hot Chicken Fire Truck Parade beginning at 10:30 a.m. at 8th and Woodland and marching to the East Park festival location.
The festival begins at 11 a.m. with free samples for the first 500 people. More than a dozen food vendors, including Nashville’s most prominent hot chicken establishments, will serve up their finest dishes.
The festival hosts an amateur hot chicken cooking contest from noon to 2 p.m. judged by
select hot chicken connoisseurs, including former and festival founder Nashville Mayor Bill Purcell. This year four amateur contestants will compete for the title currently held by Steven Younes of the team “Big Steve and the Hot Chickadees!” who won last July 4, 2018. Contestants this year include:
Stacy Hawkins of the team Hathaway Hawkins. Hawkins states her interest in hot chicken began with her mother.
She believes that she is one of the elite who can offer the best Nashville hot chicken.
Shane King of Acklen Hot Chicken says that since moving to Nashville two years ago for graduate school, hot chicken became his obsession. Over the last six months he’s been on a quest to design the perfect hot chicken recipe.
Tyler Poppin of the team Coq’s Hot Chicken. Poppin has assembled a group of friends from Cincinnati, Ohio who love Nashville Hot Chicken and have learned how to make it together. They state that they put in their own Cincinnati twist to their Nashville Hot Chicken recipe.
Lamont Hurt of Hurt’s Hot Chicken has been perfecting his Nashville hot chicken recipe from his trailer in Mt. Juliet. Lamont is ready to compete with the big establishments and sees the festival as his stepping stone.
The festival’s free hot chicken samples sponsored by Pinnacle Financial Partners will be provided by numerous Nashville hot chicken establishments including Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack, Bolton’s Spicy Chicken and Fish, 400 Degrees, Party Fowl, Chicken Shack Express, Eugene’s and Party Fowl.
The festival will continue until 3 p.m. bringing comradery, hot chicken activities, and entertainment for hot chicken aficionados, families and first-timers. Festival sponsor and long-time partner Yazoo Brewing Company will offer plenty of 4th of July celebratory beverages in the festival’s cool Yazoo Beer Coop tents.
Sponsors of the event include Piedmont Natural Gas, Ryman Hospitality Properties Foundation, Nashville Convention and Visitors Corp., Pinnacle Financial Partners, Vanderbilt University, Yazoo Brewing Company, Nashville Electric Service, Liberty Party Rental, Anderson Benson Insurance, Metro Nashville Airport Authority, H.G. Hill Realty, Watkins College of Art, Design & Film, Moxie Printer, Friendly Artic, Premier Parking Management, Google, Village Real Estate, Bell & Associates Construction, Firehouse, East Nashville Self Storage, Metro Water Services and Metro Parks and Recreation.
For more information, please visit www.hot-chicken.com. Follow the Hot Chicken Festival on Twitter at www.twitter.com/HotChickenFest and “Like” us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/musiccityhotchickenfestival.
To volunteer for the festival and receive a free t-shirt and beverages visit https://volunteersignup.org
