The weekend I spent in Auburn one of the biggest downtown events of the year was happening right here in downtown Knoxville. I suspect the small crowds at the Songwriter’s Festival in Alabama might have had something to do with the huge crowds back in my hometown. I’m guessing everyone who could escaped Auburn and headed north. So did everyone else.
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| Making Biscuits? Using Propane? |
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| There’s a shirt I want. |
The crowds for last year’s International Biscuit Festival overwhelmed the event to the point that people who came within an hour of the opening were shut out (that would have been me, for one). This year the effort was greatly expanded to several times the scope of last year’s event, only to be overwhelmed once more. Estimates ranged from 15,000 to 20,000 people. Is there a cap on Knoxville’s appetite for that golden brown delicacy?
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| Amie : Knoxville’s Best Bartender and Biscuit Babe Extrodinaire |
The event, as captured in photographs for this post by Shaft, ace photographer and “cat that won’t cop out,” featured many events, music, Mr. and Miss Biscuit competition as well as competitions in numerous categories including traditional, children’s and most creative.
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| Even athletic running-types love biscuits! |
As the event, which donated money to organizations battling childhood hunger concluded, thoughts turned to next year’s event. Obviously, it must be re-tooled to accommodate the crowds. Ideas have been floated to move it to the World’s Fair, which would obviously work, but I favored the other option I heard discussed: Move it to Gay Street and close the street in the same fashion it’s done for the Rossini Festival. Why not?
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| Even Sulky Tweens love buscuits! |
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| Start ’em young! |
It’s hard to imagine an event that says east Tennessee any more than this one, and while other areas of the country might make the same argument, well, we thought of it first, so too bad for you guys.
It does hearken me back to my childhood in multiple ways. I’ll never be able to smell a biscuit without a certain little jingle running through my brain. I’m posting the video below, which includes some shots of Flatt and Scruggs and their Martha White Bus. I heard it a million times on the Grand Ole Opry via the magic of WSM and it still brings a smile to my face.