Fairs with All the Fixins: Georgia's Tastiest Food Festivals

Take in the seaport town of Brunswick and its charming waterfront park as it hosts a music-infused jubilee and cook-off honoring the classic stew that shares its name. At the Brunswick Rockin' Stewbilee, sample renditions of the Southern staple known for its tomato base and hearty mix of beans, corn, okra, and meats.

Whether you’re a master quaffer or casual sipper, you’re invited to drink in three days of programming devoted to wines from around the world, including those from Georgia vines. During Athens Wine Weekend, toast your fellow imbibers over an amuse-bouche on opening night, then compare notes on sparkling wines at Sunday’s farewell brunch.

Live bands, ice-cold brews, chili cheese fries, and heaping rib plates. We call that fall-off-the-bone fun. Sanctioned by the Georgia Barbecue Association, Rhythm & Ribs BBQ Festival brings together festivalgoers and professional and backyard competitors for a smoky assembly of brotherly love in Fulwood Park.

Party with peanut farmers and the South Georgia folks who support them at the Peanut Proud Festival in March. Come early for the parade, stay late for performances by country music headliners. Besides jars of peanut butter, souvenir must-haves include a Peanut Proud T-shirt.

"Yumion," the festival mascot dressed in overalls, recently appeared on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon." Granted, it was via the tweet hashtag #MyHometownIsWeird, but even the late-night host chimed in, "It’s a good onion." Celebrate it at the Vidalia Onion Festival by sampling onion recipes of all kinds.

You’ll find a hull (wink, wink) lotta family fun and community spirit at the Georgia Strawberry Festival: 5K run, parades, gospel concert, and picnic-friendly fare, including barbecue chicken, burgers, and dogs. Strawberry shortcake, strawberry jam, and strawberry salsa are the stars of the show, but be sure to make time for the weenie dog race.

Georgia leads the country in blueberry production, with Bacon County smack-dab in the center of the action. The patriotic-themed Georgia Blueberry Festival in Alma presents a blue streak of activities: parade, cooking contests, music, kiddie rides and games, plus vendors from near and far.

The Georgia Peach Festival splits events between two weekends and two cities in Peach County: Byron and Fort Valley. Take a selfie with Miss Georgia Peach, and then take a colossal bite out of the World’s Largest Peach Cobbler.

Welcome to Cordele, the Watermelon Capital of the World! Are you ready for the watermelon horseshoe tournament? Seed-spitting competition? Watermelon-decorating contest? Any way you slice it, there is plenty of mouth-watering summer fun to go around at the Watermelon Days Festival each June.

Plains is famously home to Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the United States, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and humble peanut farmer. Visitors descend on the town annually to celebrate its high-profile crop and glimpse its most notable citizen at the Plains Peanut Festival in September.

Who can resist fried pies? No one filling this event, that's for sure. Crowds pack the Haralson County Fried Pie Festival cook-off site to sample sweet and savory pies like apple, chocolate cream, pecan and Cajun meat. There’s plenty to take home, too. And that buzzing you hear? That’s the call to go see the chainsaw carving demo.

Show off your mastery of the chicken dance then bite into a bratwurst and sip some beer at the annual Oktoberfest, an annual fall shindig in Alpine Helen. Lederhosen is optional.

The Georgia Department of Agriculture reports nearly one-third of our food is the direct result of pollination, so honeybees are vital to this region. At the Hahira Honeybee Festival, meet beekeepers, peek at hives, watch honey being spun, and get a taste of honey varietals like Cotton and Gallberry.

Georgia seafood is always something to celebrate on the coast, and St. Marys does just that every fall with the Seafood Festival. Enjoy a full day of family fun with a 5K race, parade, entertainment, demonstrations, arts & crafts vendors and food concessionaires. The best part of the day, for most, are the seafood festival specials at local restaurants, food trucks and vendors with sensational seafood fare.

Here in the Appalachian foothills, farmers swear the cool mountain nights make for the best-tasting, crispest apples. Fill your bags with Winesap and other beauties to take home. At the Georgia Apple Festival in Ellijay, fill up on apple treats, handmade crafts, cloggers and country music.

Fact: Every jar of Peter Pan Peanut Butter is made in Sylvester, Georgia. Come revel with local farmers and savor their “peanuts worth digging.” Besides endless PB&Js and festival fare at the Georgia Peanut Festival, you'll find a winning brass band, arts and crafts, and a Kidz Korner.

You thought Forrest Gump's friend Bubba could talk about ways to cook shrimp. The Great Ogeechee Seafood Festival serves up a variety of coastal seafood prepared in every conceivable way. Boy Scouts will get you fixed up, too, with kettle corn and peach cobbler. Another lure: big-name music headliners each year.

Since 1960, locals have promoted the region's sweet potato farmers with the Sweet Potato Festival, a daylong celebration in Ocilla. Pre-parade, march over to the sweet potato cooking contest. You’ll find entries for everything from pies and cakes to soufflés and ice cream.

Beer, barbecue, beauty queens, booming fireworks — that's what we like about the South. The two-day Real Squeal in Lyons features three barbecue contests (backyard, professional, and sauce), plus bands, a 5K and Hog Jog, classic cars and chainsaw carving. Local students even compete in the Pig Tales writing competition.

As part of the West Fest at The Booth Museum, chuck wagon food - like biscuits, beans, meat and potatoes - are available for purchase. Have a hearty meal while you watch reenactments, dancing, and trick roping demonstrations.

This festival is "big doins" in Broxton, home to poultry farmers and seasoned country cooks. Which competitor will strut their poultry pride enough to win best chicken livers or gizzards recipe? Find out, and enjoy good eats, music, arts and crafts, and small-town Southern fun.

Nope, it’s not a dance, but a chance to watch barbecue champions compete in Vienna. Share a funnel cake and bet who wins the trophy for most succulent pig. The Big Pig Jig been recognized many times over as one of America’s best festivals.

Crispy Southern-fried catfish and all the fixings — grits, hush puppies, coleslaw, and plenty of sweet tea — that's reason enough to pack up and go to Kingsland for the annual Kingsland Catfish Festival. The parades, specialty crafts and musical performances? That’s just gravy.