National Cornbread Festival is ‘postponed’; officials to re-evaluate
South Pittsburg, Tennessee’s National Cornbread Festival may be served up this year, but it won’t be this spring.
Officials announced Monday that they’re hoping the April event can be indefinitely delayed rather than canceled, a decision that will be based on COVID19 infection rates and the rollout of vaccines. Last year, the festival was one of several major events around the tri-state area canceled as the coronavirus emerged.
In a statement, marketing chairwoman Amy
Rogers said officials had hoped to be “ready to celebrate the tastes and sounds of all things cornbread. But in the interest of keeping our festivalgoers, volunteers and community safe, we feel it is necessary to postpone our April festival weekend.”
Traditionally held the last full weekend of April, the festival has been drawing visitors to South Pittsburg since 1997, making 2021 the festival’s 25th year, a milestone organizers hope they won’t have to forfeit.
Rogers said the executive board will consider “community spread [of the virus] in our area and the Chattanooga area in general, as well as the vaccination rate … as part of the decision-making process.” They expect by this summer to be able to “reevaluate the possibility of open dates for later in the year.”
Set up like a massive block party in the city’s downtown district, the two-day event includes an array of culinary creations involving cornbread. The main event is a cook-off that draws amateur competitors from around the country, along with 25,000 to 30,000 visitors, to the town of 3,500.