The National Fried Chicken Festival (FCF), presented by Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers, has announced its highly-anticipated return to the New Orleans Lakefront on Oct. 5 – 6, 2024. The festival will offer several new experiences and opportunities for guests to enjoy the iconic Southern dish.
In addition to all the things festival-goers have come to know and love since its founding in 2016, such as a wide variety of unique food offerings from over 45 participating restaurants, all-day entertainment from world-renowned musicians and celebrity chefs across four stages, the seventh edition of FCF is excited to debut a new tiered pricing structure as well as reimagined ticketed experiences for those 21+ and several new initiatives aimed at supporting local youth.
This year’s VIP offerings include a reimagined multi-lounge VIP ticket, where guests will have the ability to move freely between the two luxurious lounges at each of the main music stages, and an unlimited Beer Garden ticket, which comes with an open beer bar throughout the day. FCF is also unveiling a new tiered pricing structure for all ticket options, with the lowest early bird tickets going on sale today and increasing incrementally in the weeks and months leading up to the festival.
As a special National Fried Chicken Day treat, General Admission tickets can be purchased today for as low as $5. Upgrade options start at $39 for the unlimited Beer Garden and $79 for the VIP lounges.
Representing its ongoing commitment to the New Orleans community, FCF is proud to announce several new sponsored initiatives to support local youth. First, the festival will host a STEM Saturday with STEM NOLA presented by Entergy, where 100 children from across the area can participate in STEM experiments and learn with STEM NOLA founder Dr. Calvin Mackie. STEM NOLA-hosted STEM Saturdays are community-based academic STEM learning events for students and parents to learn together. Unlike other events in the series that require parents to pay a registration fee, the FCF STEM Saturday camp, taking place before gates open on Oct. 5, will be free of charge due to a generous contribution from Entergy.
Following the success of last year’s event, FCF was ranked sixth “Best Speciality Food Festival” in the nation by the USA Today 10best Readers’ Choice Awards. The festival will continue to build upon its standing and growing reputation as one of the U.S.’ leading food-focused events and showcase New Orleans as a premier culinary destination worldwide through its dynamic restaurant lineup, tasting competitions, and the return of the HEINZ® “Food is Culture” Stage with cooking demonstrations, panel discussions, and more, with some of the nation’s best-known celebrity chefs and culinary thought leaders. In addition, attendees will be able to take their pick between three music stages at the festival, including the return of Cane’s Square with DJs, games, prizes, and special performances throughout the weekend.
FCF 2024 is made possible thanks to the generous support of festival partners, including long-time presenting sponsor Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers, HEINZ, Entergy, New Orleans Tourism and Cultural Fund, New Schools for New Orleans, New Orleans & Co., PosiGen, Louisiana Office of Culture, Recreation & Tourism, Luzianne, Marriott, and others.
FCF is produced by Festivals for Good, a Louisiana-based 501c3 nonprofit with the mission of bringing diverse groups of people together to celebrate common interests, such as love for food, while supporting small and diverse businesses.
For more information or to purchase tickets, please visit friedchickenfestival.com.