Hot sauce has been an integral part of Austin’s life for many years. So much so, there’s an entire festival dedicated to it. Starting small in 1990, the hot sauce festival has grown over the last 30 years into one of Austin’s major festivals – with over 10,000 visitors and more than 350 hot sauce entries every year. This year the festival is being taken virtual, but not to worry! There will still be plenty of music and, of course, plenty of hot sauce.
Hosted by The Austin Chronicle, the hot sauce festival will remain largely the same, except this time everyone will get to enjoy the festivities from the comfort of their own homes – pj’s for the win! The event will include announcing the winners of the commercial bottler categories, clips from the judging process, and cooking demonstrations using the hot sauce. And of course, it wouldn’t be an Austin festival without music. There will be performances by some awesome local bands such as GO FEVER, Como Las Movies, Mike Melinoe, and Nemegata.
Outside of determining who has produced the very best hot sauces of the year, the festival plays another key role, serving as a huge fundraiser for the Central Texas Food Bank. So not only do we get to enjoy a great hot sauce festival in Austin, but it also has a really positive impact on the community. Amazingly, in the last year alone over 95,000 meals were raised! How awesome is that? This year to participate in the event, The Austin Chronicle is asking for a small donation to be made to the Food Bank so that the event can carry on providing meals to those in need.
The hot sauce festival takes place on Sunday, August 30th at 1:00 pm. And for a more involved experience, you can purchase your very own hot sauce tasting kit! The kits are packed full of all kinds of goodies including 5 select hot sauces and chips for trying them all out, some cool hot sauce festival merchandise in the form of bandanas and embroidered patches, and a few other exciting bits from the sponsors of the festival.
With a kit, you’ll really be able to get in on the action and have the full Hot Sauce Festival experience, despite not attending in person. The kits this year are available for pre-order on August 17th going for $65 and we have a feeling they’re going to go quickly. Of course, you don’t need a special kit to have a great time and well, you’re probably something of a hot sauce connoisseur already. Doing a tasting with hot sauces from home while viewing the festival is just as fun!
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The hot sauce festival in Austin will certainly be different this year in many ways. But we love that everyone is working so hard to keep the overall essence of it the same. With the kits, the cooking demos, the music, and getting to hear all about the winners. We’d say we’re in for a festival just as excellent as all the others.
Featured Photo Credit: Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival
