Fun 2021 Summer Food Festivals in Every State

If it's one thing Americans know how to do, it's come together and celebrate food. While many of the country's favorite food festivals have been put on hold or canceled this year, there are still many that hope to be held this year. If you're planning on traveling around the states this summer, here are some great food festivals to enjoy.

Fans of blueberries will love Alabama's Blueberry Festival, held in Brewton, Alabama every year. Sample freshly picked blueberries and taste the best blueberry cobbler you've ever had. There will also be handmade goods for sale, live music and an antique car show. It's now going to be held on June 19, 2021.

More than 8,000 people visit Alaska's Salmonfest each year. Held at the Kenai Peninsula Fair in Ninilchik, it combines live music performances with the state's love for salmon. It's planned to be held during the weekend of August 6-8 this year.

While many of Arizona's best and most popular food festivals are held later in the year because of the strong summer heat, Flagstaff offers the Made in the Shade Beer Tasting Festival in June, complete with a DJ, dance floor and over 100 different breweries to enjoy.

Arkansas is home to the Johnson County Peach Festival, which began in the 1930s. The four-day festival is complete with a beauty pageant, frog jump, bed races, turtle derby and so much more! Guests can also enter peach-related contests or simply sample all of the peach-flavored foods available.

California's annual Watermelon Festival is an homage to some of the nation's favorite summer fruits. Try all of the unique watermelon dishes on offer, then maybe try your hand at watermelon skiing. It's now going to be held on August 28-29, at the Hansen Dam Soccer Fields in Los Angeles.

Fans of spicy food will enjoy visiting the Chile & Frijoles Festival in Pueblo, Colorado, which celebrates chili peppers! While this year's festival will be scaled down, there will be two competitions for the best red chili, green chili and salsas, plus they're offering pick-up for those looking to purchase some farm-fresh chilis while remaining socially distant. The festival will be held September 24-26.

Connecticut's White Silo Farm & Winery will host the 14th annual Rhubarb Festival on June 26-27. Reservations are required, but entry gets you rhubarb delicacies, live music and more.

Set for June 26, 2021, the New Castle County Ice Cream Festival is perfect for ice cream lovers. Located in Rockwood Park, this year's slightly smaller festival is free to join and offers live music and a flea market!

From July 1-5, festival-goers can enjoy the best of Florida's signature dessert flavor: key lime. The Key Lime Festival is held in Key West and a Key Lime Scavenger Hunt, signature cocktails, pies and more.

Cordele, Georgia calls itself the watermelon capital of the world. Cordele's June festival is watermelon-themed! It will be held on June 19 this year and includes a parade, a car show, a watermelon chunking contest and live music. The day before, on June 18, there will also be a Watermelon Walk and Watermelon Gospel Sing.

June 6-13 is Maui's premier food festival, the Kapalua Wine and Food Festival. Experienced wine connoisseurs and eager foodies are all welcome to this awesome festival held at The Ritz-Carlton, Kapalua. It also offers outings to local restaurants.

Idaho is home to the Emmett Cherry Festival, held in the area which is known for its orchards. Held June 16-19 this year, guests can free entry into the festival, as well as into all of the contests. The Cherry Festival includes a car show, parade, cherry pie eating contest, cherry pit spitting contest, two pageants and much more.

Chicago is king when it comes to food festivals. From July 9-11, travelers can enjoy the Windy City Smokeout at the United Center, filled with incredible barbecue, craft brews and country music. This year's performers include Brett Eldredge, Darius Rucker and Dierks Bentley.

From July 23-25, around 250,000 people travel to Whiting, Indiana for the annual Pierogi Fest, complete with live polka music, a wacky parade and, of course, all the pierogis you can eat.

Come to Fredericksburg, Iowa on June 8 this year to enjoy a milk-themed festival, the 97th annual Fredericksburg Dairy Day. Enjoy a tractor pulling contest, a milking contest, live music and, of course, as many fresh dairy products as you can eat.

Did you know the United States has a National Festival of Breads? Well, get ready to carb load on June 9th this year, now from anywhere you like! The National Festival of Breads, while usually held in Manhattan, Kansas, is going virtual this year.

Newport, Kentucky offers what might just be the niche-est food festival on this list: Glier's Goettafest, a celebration centered totally around goetta, a German sausage made from meat and grains. This year, Goettafest is going hard with two different dates: July 29-August 1 and August 5-8. With live music right on the Ohio River waterfront, it's sure to be a memorable festival filled with unique foods.

For a taste of true Louisiana goodness, check out the Bridge City Gumbo Festival, held October 8-10th this year. While it may not be a summer festival, Louisiana promises to be warm and inviting. Over 2,000 gallons of every type of gumbo you can imagine will be prepared here, plus live music, a gumbo cooking contest, plus fun rides and a haunted house.

While Maine's Lobster Festival is canceled for this year, visitors to Maine and Maine natives both can enjoy the Eastport Salmon & Seafood Festival, which will be held during the Labor Day Weekend. The star of the festival is always the salmon barbecue.

Crab lovers can enjoy Baltimore's Chesapeake Crab, Wine & Beer Festival, which will be held on August 7 this year. Make sure to buy tickets early, though, because they'll get more expensive closer to the festival date.

While Massachusetts might not be hosting a summer festival this year, they are still hosting the Wellfleet OysterFest this year in Wellfleet, complete with poetry readings, live music, oyster shucking contests and all the oysters you can eat. This year's OysterFest is October 16-17.

Michigan's Mackinac (pronounced Mack-i-naw) Island is home to the Fudge Festival and has been for over a century. This popular summer tourist island eschews modern transportation and opts for bicycles and horses instead. This year, the Mackinac Island Fudge Festival will be held on August 27-29.

St. Paul, Minnesota is home to the Uptown Food Truck Festival, where all types of food trucks flock to feed those in attendance. This year's festival is on July 17 and will include live music and games for children.

Corinth, Mississippi is home to the local favorite Slugburger Festival. The main difference between a slugburger and a real burger is that it's deep-fried instead of grilled. This year's festival will be July 8-10, and will feature a carnival and live band performances.

Meat-lovers everywhere will flock to Marshfield, Missouri's Carnivor Festival, which proudly calls itself " the Midwest's Best Meat Festival." Besides every kind of meat one would like to eat, this festival also features live music and a car show, as it is always held on Route 66. A Steak Cook-off contest is also held each year.

Trout Creek, Montana has hosted the annual Huckleberry Festival each year for 41 years. The festival will be held on August 14-15 and will feature live music, vendors selling handmade goods and art, a pie-eating contest and all the huckleberry-themed foods you can handle.

Quite possibly the oldest continuously running festival on this list has been held for 120 years, and features one of America's greatest snack foods: popcorn. The North Loup Popcorn Days festival will be held August 20-22, and features a street dance, beauty pageant, live music and tons of awesome popcorn to eat.

Elko, Nevada is home to the National Basque Festival, a festival that celebrates the local Basque heritage, food and culture. From July 2-4, anyone can come and enjoy delicious foods, watch or participate in traditional dances and watch traditional Basque sports contests, like wood chopping.

June 19 is the date you need to mark on your calendars to visit the Newport Brewfest. Only 200 will be allowed to the festival this year for COVID-19 reasons, so make sure you buy your table as soon as possible if you want to enjoy all the craft brews available.

New Jersey offers two locations of its fun Taco Palooza this year. On June 17, visitors can enjoy tacos in Sewell, and on June 19, in Chester. No matter which location you visit, you can enjoy all the tacos you can eat, as well as live music, sangria and margaritas.

Like with Arizona's food festival, New Mexico's Santa Fe Wine and Chile Fiesta will be held September 22-26 instead of during the summer due to extreme heat. With an art exhibition, wine tasting featuring local wines and chile-themed foods, this festival is a great one to visit.

New York's Taste of Buffalo festival is the nation's largest two-day food festival and has been given the green light to be held July 10-11 this year. Featuring Buffalo's local restaurants and wineries, it's sure to be a fantastic festival to go to. Prior to the pandemic, it welcomed 450,000 people!

North Carolina hosts what is quite possibly the most socially responsible food festival in the nation: Chow Chow, which has been restructured this year to offer smaller-sized gatherings from June 27-September 26. The event includes workshops, demos and classes that discuss the importance of food, food access and issues of social justice.

If ribs are your go-to meat, check out the Best of the West RibFest in Watford City, North Dakota. Featuring live bands, two different rib-cooking contests, a car show and more. It will be held this year on August 13.

Cleveland, Ohio is home to Tequila Fest, which includes food truck vendors that sell tacos, as well as many different kinds of tequila, live music and more. This year it will be held on June 18.

Oklahoma is home to the McCloud Blackberry Festival, the state's longest-running food festival. It will be held on July 9-10 and will feature the state's important (and delicious) berries, a parade, pageant, live music, a carnival ride and all of the blackberry desserts, drinks and foods you can eat!

Northwest of Portland is where Oregon's fun food festival is located, and it makes a rather unique root vegetable its focus: garlic. The North Plains Elephant Garlic Festival, while it hasn't yet finalized a date for its summer festival, usually hosts a parade and a variety of food vendors selling garlic-themed foods, including (dare I say it?) garlic ice cream.

Allentown, Pennsylvania's Museum of Indian Culture hosts the Roasting Ears of Corn Festival, which celebrates Native American cultures from across the country, offers culturally immersive activities for both adults and children to enjoy, as well as great food, like roasted corn, Indian tacos and frybread. It's a festival like no other, and it's set to be held on August 21-22.

There may not be any summer festivals in Rhode Island this year (at least not ones that are easily searchable online), but in September, the state will host the Ocean State Oyster Festival. It celebrates everything oysters, which are a staple of the state's economy.

Travel to Summerville, South Carolina on September 18 for the annual Sweet Tea Festival, complete with food trucks, a tea tasting contest, a silent disco and more.

On July 31, 2021, visitors to South Dakota can sample the state's signature meat: chislic. The South Dakota Chislic Festival celebrates the cubed meat, usually venison or mutton, and features live music and fun activities. It's drawn over 10,000 individuals in the past, so chislic must be good, right?

Celebrate tomatoes in a wholly wacky way with Nashville's Tomato Art Fest. Celebrating all thing art and tomatoes with great food, live bands a parade and more, this event will be held August 13-14 this year.

What could be the most Cowboy-themed festival on this list will be held on June 10-12 in Lockhart, Texas. Featuring a Wild West-style mock shootout, pig races, a carnival and more, the Chisolm Trail Roundup is a great place to get some of the best barbecue in Texas, especially when it hosts the BBQ & Chili Cookoff contest, which includes dishes like ribs, brisket and pinto beans.

Bear Lake Raspberry Days will be held in Garden City, Utah on August 5-7 this year and celebrates the local Bear Lake Raspberries. It includes a pageant, parade and all of the raspberry-flavored foods you can get your hands on.

Bennington, Vermont will be hosting the Southern Vermont Garlic & Herb Festival on September 4th. It will have live music and over 100 vendors selling everything from locally grown garlic to garlic jams, desserts and more, as well as other herbs.

Cantaloupe lovers across the nation will be overjoyed to find that this year's Virginia Cantaloupe Festival will be held on August 27 at Berry Hill Resort in South Boston. With live music and all the cantaloupe you can stomach, it's sure to be a fun festival.

Wine lovers will love Kirkland Uncorked, a wine-themed event returning in July of this year. With several cooking contests, a street fair, live music and more, it's sure to be a fun event for locals and visitors alike. Plus, the event is a charity benefit for the local pet adoption center, so you can feel good about participating!

Vegetarians and vegans can unite together at the West Virginia Veg Fest, which will be held on August 29 this year in Morgantown. The free event includes educational speakers and vendors selling all completely organic, local and vegan foods and produce.

Wisconsin is the nation's beer and cheese capital, and Wisconsinites have a whole celebration to brag about it. Located in Little Chute, the Great Wisconsin Cheese Festival donates the proceeds to the community and offers a cheese carving competition, cheese tastings, rides, a parade, a walk/run and so much more! It will be held June 4-6 this year.

The Jackson Hole Food & Wine Summer Festival is an awesome food festival to visit, with tasting events and local and guest chefs and winemakers. It will be held June 24-26 this year.