Catch the fever Sunday, August 24th! Join the fun, music, and hot sauce from 11am - 5:30pm at Waterloo Park, 12th and Red River

Admission is FREE with a donation of three non-perishable food items for the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas.

In the eighteen years since its inception, what started as a friendly contest between Austin and San Antonio has become one of the largest annual contests in the world, the Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival. FREE to the public (with a donation of three healthy, non-perishable food items or a cash donation to the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas), the event draws upwards of 15,000 spectators and more than 350 entries every year. This year the Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival will take place on Sunday, August 24 at Waterloo Park from 11:00am - 5:30pm.

The outstanding musical performances and culinary exhibitions are notable attractions, but the biggest draws are the salsas. More than one hundred gallons of hot sauce are consumed at the event every year. Area restaurants show off their hot and spicy foods at booths, and vendors from across the Southwest set up shop to sell hot and spicy cookbooks, fresh peppers, and chili pepper memorabilia.

The hot sauce contest has three levels of competition: individuals (homemade), restaurants, and commercial bottlers. This gives us a good chance to recognize salsas in a class by themselves. It also gives us a chance to consider salsas made fresh daily in restaurants apart from those made for grocery store shelves. The 2008 featured Hot Sauce Festival judges are some of the finest chefs in Texas!

If you are interested in participating in the individual or restaurant categories of the Hot Sauce Contest, entry forms will run in the Chronicle during the month of August and as a download from this page. Bring one quart of your sauce, your entry form and the entry fee to Waterloo Park on the day of the event between 10:30 - 11:30am.

If you are a commercial bottler and are interested in securing a booth, please contact Elizabeth.

For sponsorship or media inquiries please contact Erin.

No comments yet.

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI