Upcoming Events
From music festivals, racing, history, heritage, food and everything in between. Here's your guide.
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Tate of Tennessee
This year, The Heritage Alliance of Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia is pleased to announce that the event will take place live and in-person, with a similar dynamic and exciting program of activities. The festival will include live musical performances, food, special guest presentations, vendors, and contests. One of the festival’s central features is a cake-baking “Take the Cake” competition for homecooks, professionals, and children, where local residents are encouraged to show off their skills, as well as their favorite dishes. A public tasting of the entries will be offered. Listening tickets for the lecture series, starring some stellar panelists and demonstrators, are available for purchase online at heritageall.org.
Executive Director Anne G’Fellers-Mason and Programming Coordinator Megan Cullen Tewell hope that the event will bring people together to explore and celebrate Appalachian cuisine. This festival will take place from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM and is completely family friendly. In addition to highlighting the work of local chefs, farmers, historians, and food experts, this day-long celebration also serves as a fundraiser for The Heritage Alliance and will benefit local hunger-fighting initiatives.
Describing the event in years past, Tewell explained that: “Our goal is to get people excited about Appalachian cuisine, past and present. That’s our main objective with this event— to connect people to food and to each other.” The Heritage Alliance has partnered with numerous local entities to highlight Appalachian foodways in a variety of contexts.
A complete program for Taste of Tennessee will be released shortly. Confirmed speakers include prominent chefs, “foodies,” farmers, historians, interpreters, to name a few. Speaker series tickets are now available to purchase on the Taste of Tennessee page at heritageall.org. The cost for the speaker series is only $5.00, or you can bring five, non-perishable food items to the event to donate to the JAMA Food Pantry. In addition to the speaker series and cake contest, vendors will have artisanal goods available for purchase, alongside food trucks offering local fare. Featuring historic recipes, techniques, and ingredients, as well as modern spins on Appalachian classics, Mason and Tewell hope that Taste of Tennessee helps the public to come together and enjoy a sense of community, preferably one smothered in butter.
Vendor forms, food truck forms, sponsorship forms, speaker series tickets, and “Take the Cake” contest forms can all be found on the Taste of Tennessee page at heritageall.org.
Taste of Tennessee promises good times, good company, and good eats. Don’t miss this exciting opportunity to learn more about our local food heritage on June 18th—and bring your appetite for Appalachia! Learn more and purchase tickets at heritageall.org or via Heritage Alliance on Facebook.
