10 Georgia Food Festivals that are Worth a Trip

One of the newest barbecue festivals in Georgia, the Rhythm & Ribs BBQ Festival in Tifton in March has done it right! Pairing local bands with barbecue results in family-friendly fun with arts and crafts, vendors, a kids’ zone, tons of free entertainment, and pounds of smoky barbecue.

Attend Rhythm & Ribs

This festival is as unique as it tasty! Attracting more than 10,000 visitors, the Georgia Peach Festival splits events between two weekends and two cities, Byron and Fort Valley, which doubles your peach-eating fun. On the final Saturday morning of the festival, a team of volunteer bakers present Peach County's renowned culinary masterpiece, The World's Largest Peach Cobbler. Coming in at a whopping 11 feet by 5 feet long and 8 inches deep, people line up by the dozens for a sample of this sweet treat.

Attend Georgia Peach Festival

In the South Georgia community of Cordele, you'll find the biggest, sweetest watermelons in the world. To celebrate the watermelon harvest in June — and all good things grown in the South — Cordele's Watermelon Days Festival has parades; watermelon eating, seed spitting and chucking contests; and sweet, cold wedges of watermelon.

Attend Watermelon Days

The Atlanta Food & Wine Festival in September does an exceptional job of preserving and promoting Southern food and drink traditions. Introducing new and exciting food trends, using products unique to the South, and providing delicious food and drink samples, makes this one of Georgia's best.

Attend Atlanta Food & Wine

Plains is famously the hometown of 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 pay tribute to the former president.

Attend Plains Peanut Festival

Tucked in the North Georgia mountains, you will find a little slice of Bavaria and the longest-running Oktoberfest in the United States in the Alpine town of Helen. It's Helen's biggest celebration! In September and October, visit to enjoy German music, food, beer and dancing — including waltzes, polkas, and the legendary chicken dance!

Attend Oktoberfest

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 parade, entertainment, demonstrations, arts and 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.

Attend St. Marys Seafood Festival

If you're looking for a food festival that’s geared toward family fun, then the Georgia Apple Festival in Ellijay in October is the perfect fit. Families from all over the country flock to this North Georgia town for two exciting fall weekends. Vendors offering food, art and crafts, and all things apples are ready to serve you. Stick around for the craft and apple cooking demonstrations, parade, and the annual classic car show.

Attend Georgia Apple Festival

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.

Attend Great Ogeechee Seafood Festival

Chow down on one of the coast's most famous dishes at the Shrimp & Grits Festival. Held every fall, the event features various interpretations of the dish, along with family-friendly entertainment, an artist market, live music, and craft beer. 

Attend Jekyll Island Shrimp & Grits Festival

Find more food festivals on the ExploreGeorgia.org Events page, and subscribe to the Explore Georgia enewsletter to receive the latest event updates and travel deals directly in your inbox.