2nd Annual Music City Hot Chicken Festival

Well, those of you who met me last year will get a kick out of this one. I volunteered (as usual) and I was supposed to be an accounting runner. Well that changed the minute I signed in and got my badge. I became the Beer Garden Bouncer! Me, a bouncer. Well, I had to tell them they had to get their armbands showing they had proven they were 21 to enter and more than that, I had totell them they couldn't leave with their beer, only their empty cups. Well that left a few people a little upset and looking for other ways out - over the banners forming 'sides' to the tent. They wound up getting me reinforcement - police. I still had the main job at the entry/exit but he helped watch the sides and ends that I couldn't. But I had a great vantage point and got to talk to a lot of people.

The weather was just about perfect. Not too hot with a nice breeze and a few cloudy moments that threatened rain. Dumb me sprayed on the sun block after I was dressed and just barely got one streak down the front of my arms. I was wearing a sleeveless shirt so I have very sunburned shoulders down to my elbows and the tops of my feet.

Anyway so here is how it went down.

There was an amature cooking contest but there is no way it can rate since you show up and they have your chicken, oil and fryer. So you can't brine, marinate or control your oil.

Free samples while they lasted and the line was pretty long and they ran out quickly.

Vendors selling there were of course Prince's whose lines were ridiculous right up to the end. One huge line to order and pay. Then one more huge line to wait in to pick up your order. Dee's Q with bbq. Otter's Chicken Tenders - great guy that I know and good food but he was just filler sort of like Dee's Q. He did sell out pretty much though. The Chicken Shack - I was hoping that this was somebody that was somehow tied to the original Chicken Shack that started this all and that Prince's came from but it wasn't. No wonder the line was short. Decent but nothing to write home about. 400 Degrees - the new player in town and gaining fast on Prince's. Lat year they sold out in an hour, this year they lasted longer but I think they were sold out by about 2 from what I heard but there was still a line - not sure what they were doing, whether they went for more chicken or what but I wasn't going to stand around to find out. Bolton's - their line was continually as long as Prince's althought it wasn't one line for ordering and one for picking up. So Miss Dolly was doing a bang up job with her hot chicken and fish - she was the only one with fish I think.

There were other things like free watermelon from the Nashville Farmer's Market, a shaved ice place, and a candy place doing cotton candy and who knows what else. There was face painting and games, jumpy things and misting tent to cool yourself down. And free music.

OH - forgot, the beer tent right? Yazoo Brewing, some of the finest beer you'll ever have was there sponsoring the tent which was overflowing. As one of the councilwomen put it, next year we'll know to get a bigger tent. Most people don't understand but good beer is best served slightly chilled but not freezing cold and after the hot chicken a LOT of them were looking for COLD beer. That being said, if you are ever in town on Thursday,Friday or Saturday, take a trip downtown off Charlotte to Yazoo Brewing's Tap Room. I'm not a beer drinker or lover but they converted me. And the surprise is that I like the darker beers.

So what does this festival's future hold? Who knows. I think it will keep growing but despite the very nature of what it's about, they have got to come up with a better way to turn out the chicken faster because people are only going to stand in lines like that for so long. I know that I got in the shortest one just because I was starving after working for several hours and didn't want to go find something else to eat. But my whole attitude was, why stand in those kinds of lines when I can go to the restaurants at my leisure? Besides, after eating one, it's hard to fully judge the others right behind it in my humble opinion.

But it's great to see festivals based around foods and the preservation and promotion of unique food like Nashville's Hot Chicken. So I hope that it makes it and I'll certainly be glad to volunteer again and work to provide feedback to make it better.

So here's hoping to see some of you there next year!

Nice report ML. I hope it does stick around. And here's to your illustrious career as beer bouncer. :)

Or you could say, 'crowd control engineer'.