Which city in Tennessee hosts the annual National Cornbread Festival?

South Pittsburg, Tennessee, hosts the annual National Cornbread Festival. The festival celebrates cornbread and Southern food traditions in this small Tennessee city, located along the Tennessee River near the Alabama border.

The event began in 1997 and is held during the last full weekend in April. Its activities have included a cornbread cook-off, cornbread-eating competition, a 5K race, live music, arts and crafts, and Cornbread Alley, where local organizations serve different recipes. Visitors can also tour the Lodge Cast Iron Skillet Foundry, an important local attraction.

The festival’s location is closely tied to South Pittsburg’s identity and its association with Lodge Cast Iron, founded there in 1896. The event has occasionally been interrupted, including cancellations during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the festival continues to identify South Pittsburg as its home. That makes the Tennessee city the canonical answer, rather than Knoxville, Memphis, or Nashville.