Georgia Food + Wine Festival 2026: 10 ways to spend the weekend like a pro
The Georgia Food and Wine Festival is back this weekend at Jim R. Miller Park in Marietta, and like most food festivals it rewards people with a plan. Otherwise, it’s a blur, baby.
This one runs March 27-29 and breaks cleanly into three experiences:
- Friday’s Fired Up is all-inclusive barbecue and live fire-cooking event.
- Saturday’s Savor is the main tasting event with chefs, drinks and demos.
- Sunday’s Funday is a more relaxed, family-friendly day with food, shopping and a cocktail competition.
Everything but Sunday is 21-and-over. Parking is free.
There will be pitmasters working whole animals over fire, chefs plating bites for a crowd instead of a dining room, bartenders competing in real time, and a whole lot of people trying to taste as much as possible before they can’t walk another step or eat another bite.
As someone who has worked countless food festivals all over the country as a chef and attended them as a food editor, here’s how I’d move through it.
1. Start Friday with Rodney Scott’s whole hog before anything else
There are a lot of bites at “Fired Up,” but only one thing that demands your attention the minute you walk in: whole hog from Rodney Scott’s BBQ.
This isn’t just pulled pork from a tray. The hog is cooked intact over live coals, tended for hours, then flipped and finished with mop sauce so the skin crisps and the meat stays tender.
You want that while it’s fresh. Before your palate is dulled and everything starts tasting the same.
2. Spend time at the fire, not just the serving table
“Fired Up” is built around live-fire cooking. You’ll see beef, pork, chicken, seafood and even vegetables cooked over an open flame. Your first instinct might be to grab a plate and move on.
Don’t.
Stand near the grill for a minute. Watch how someone manages flare-ups, how they control heat, how they rest and season meat. That’s where the really interesting stuff happens. The plate is just the delicious result.
3. Make time for the Meat & Greet if you want something more focused
Most of the festival is built around grazing. The Meat & Greet is one of the few structured experiences.
Rodney Scott’s pitmaster Kyrie Larsen will pair a featured meat with a drink alongside Woodford Reserve ambassador Crystal Chasse.
It’s a slower moment in a fast environment, and it’s worth it if you want to understand what you’re tasting, not just consume it.
4. On Saturday, walk the whole festival before tasting anything
Saturday’s “Savor” is the biggest day. There will be hundreds of different wines, beers and spirits tastings, chef-driven bites, live music, an artisan market and two demo stages.
You also get 10 culinary credits for food.
My suggestion is to walk the festival once and see what looks serious and worth the wait in line. Then go back and use your credits early enough that you’re not settling for whatever’s left.
5. Watch Jernard Wells to understand where Southern food is right now
Chef Jernard Wells hits the stage Saturday at 1:15 p.m. and again Sunday at 1 p.m.
He’s not just a demo chef here; he’s the festival’s brand ambassador, tied directly to its vision of Southern food.
What he cooks and how he talks about it will tell you everything you need to know about where this festival thinks the South is headed in terms of culinary.
6. Stay for Nick Liberato
Saturday’s stage lineup includes Nick Liberato from 2:00–2:30 p.m., and his demo will be worth it.
Liberato comes from a background in national TV and restaurants. I’ve worked food festivals with him before. He’s not just an incredible chef armed to the gills with food knowledge; he’s charismatic and will no doubt serve great jokes with great bites.
7. Make a stop at Bubbles & Brews Alley before your palate burns out
Saturday also includes the Bubbles & Brews Alley, a dedicated space for local craft beer.
Go early.
After a few rounds of smoked meat and spirits, everything starts flattening out. A clean, well-made beer resets your palate and lets you keep going without losing the thread.
8. Spend time in the Georgia Grown section
The Georgia Grown Member Village is easy to overlook, but it’s showcasing Georgia’s small businesses. This is where you see what is actually being produced locally. You’ll find jams, sauces, candles, soaps, and packaged goods. Taste what you can and pick something up. It’s one of the few parts of the festival you can take home.
9. On Sunday, go watch the cocktail competition instead of wandering
Sunday includes Georgia’s Best Cocktail Challenge, where local bartenders compete for a cash prize and a spot at the World Food Championship. It runs in the afternoon and is one of the few moments where the festival becomes focused instead of spread out.
You’ll see all sorts of cocktail technique and how some of our star bartenders do under a little pressure. It’s worth standing still for.
10. End the weekend slowly
Sunday Funday is the only family-friendly day, and it will feel different from every other day.
You’ll have more space and more time. There will be live music, food trucks, artisan vendors, and less urgency to hit everything at once. This is when you circle back to something you liked, grab a drink, maybe wander through the market or stop by Emma’s Flower Truck.
What this weekend will show you
If you step back from the plates and the lines, the Georgia Food and Wine Festival will demonstrate something pretty clearly.
Georgia food is still rooted in fire (barbecue, smoke, open flame) but it’s also expanding. More chefs, more styles, more crossover between tradition and something new.
You’ll see that in the demos. You’ll taste it in the booths. You’ll hear it in the way people talk about what they’re eating.
You can move through it slowly and get a better idea of what is actually happening in our state’s culinary scene. Or you can just show up and eat.
Both are valid ways to experience a great food festival. But I recommend the first.
About the Author
Monti Carlo is the AJC's Senior Editor of Food & Dining and a Telly Award-winning TV host, cookbook author and special events chef. She covers culinary culture, spotlighting the people redefining Southern food today. Her cookbook, Spanglish, a love letter to bicultural Puerto Rican cooking, publishes May 19, 2026. Email her at monti.carlo@ajc.com
