Hot Chicken Festival

The Music City Hot Chicken Festival brings together hot chicken restaurants, aficionados and newbies all in a celebration of Nashville’s signature dish.

Hall Strategies helped to found the event in 2007 and still leads the event with Nashville Mayor Bill Purcell and a team of other volunteers. Friends of Shelby Parks and Bottoms is the beneficiary. The Festival attracts more than 12,000 people in the one-day event held annually on July 4 in Nashville’s East Park. The cornerstone of the event is an amateur Hot Chicken cooking contest that has attracted contestants and judges from across the globe.