The 8 Best Maryland Food Festivals For Families
The 8 Best Maryland Food Festivals For Families
These Maryland food festivals are amazing for the food and great for family fun too!
Maryland hosts some of the funnest food festivals with unique vendors and events throughout the year you may want to clear your calendar and make a special trip. Many of these are totally family friendly (even the ones with ‘beer’ in the title) and they all feature some absolutely amazing good eats!
Related: Check out the Kid Friendly Maryland comprehensive resource for parents: Things To Do In Maryland With Kids!
Maryland Chicken Wing Festival
Maryland Chicken Wing Festival is bringing you some of the best wings around Maryland establishments. Held at the Anne Arundel County Fairgrounds in early April, this event is family friendly and everyone is encouraged to have fun. There will be lots of activities, music, drinks, and of course; chicken wings.
Check out more information here.
Strawberry Festivals
Strawberry Fest in Williamsport: is for any and every strawberry lover around. There will be food featuring strawberries and their many uses, vendors, and live entertainment. The strawberry festival is a fundraiser each year and goes to a great cause, there will be sponsors as well. Take a trip, have some delicious strawberry treats, and know it is all going for a good cause.
Sandy Spring Museum Strawberry Festival: Held the first weekend of June, this is a fantastic event full of kid’s activities, live music, and– oh yeah– strawberry shortcake.
Somerset Strawberry Festival: (from their website) The Somerset Strawberry festival is sponsored by the Somerset County Arts Council; and has a little something for everyone.
It will feature Phil Rayfield Memorial Walk / Run, the Junior Miss Strawberry Pageant, the Little Miss and Mr. Strawberry Pageant, a Marion history exhibit, various singing performances from local schools and choirs, local school bands, dancers, a bounce house, art vendors, homemade craft vendors, kids activities, delicious food vendors, and, of course STRAWBERRIES!
Beer, Bourbon, and BBQ FEstival
Beer, Bourbon, and BBQ Festival has drawn in over 225,000 people to Maryland since the first festival. The festival hosts over 60 different beers, over 40 different bourbons, and the BBQ just keeps on coming. Join other festival goers flocking to Maryland for a good time and southern fried down home fun. The festival is two days of bourbon tasting, beer sipping, music listening, and BBQ eating . You get a sampling glass with your admission that allows you to taste all the bourbon and beer you want. Beast Mode serves up samples of meats like ostrich, alligator, bison, and more.
There will be no shortage of meat, other vendors will be on site with all the barbeque you can eat in all shapes, forms, and sizes from whole hogs, ribs, chicken, sausage, and all the fixins you can think of. Gear up to enjoy life like southerners do, indulge in Barbeque, beer, baked beans, biscuits, bourbon, Bluegrass, and boots. Merchandise vendors will be on hand too, so don’t forget your merch at least until next year.
There are actually two events in Maryland– MD State Fairgrounds in Timonium in March and the National Harbor in June.
For more information about the festival click here.
Nextival Food Truck Festival
This festival is off the hook! Held at the Anne Arundel County Fairgrounds in July (exact 2019 dates TBD), this awesome festival features over 25 food trucks and another 25+ vendors. A huge live music line up goes along with the food and many fans actually camp out at the fairgrounds.
For more information (including the eventual date for 2019) click here.
Maryland Seafood Festival
The main point of the Maryland Seafood Festival is.. seafood. So, break out that Old Bay, grab your mallet, and put on that bib! This festival happens every September at Sandy Point State Park and is fantastic family fun along the shore of the Chesapeake.
Festivities include a crab soup cook-off, crab cake eating contest, live music, artist vendors, and fireworks.
Check out more information about the Seafood Festival here.
Interstate BBQ Festival
Lick your lips! Go ahead, lick ’em again because you know your mouth is totally drooling, This awesome food festival in Hagerstown, MD happens every April and features over 10 BBQ food vendors and 70+ competition BBQ teams. This family friendly event has a huge kid zone, vendors, and live music.
Here is more information about the festival.
annapolis Chocolate Binge Festival
This awesome festival coincides with the holiday season because… why wouldn’t you want to indulge in chocolate while celebrating! And no, you didn’t read the title wrong– Chocolate. Binge. Festival! Sign me up now! Festival goers can take a chocolate tour of over 30 chocolate vendors selling all kind of treats including chocolate truffles, caramels, bars, fudge, cookies, cakes, martinis, French macaroons, cupcakes, pies, brownies and more.
Click here for more information about this year’s festival!
Westminster Peep Show
This fun food festival won’t fill your belly but it will absolutely tickle your imagination. We went last year and I cannot overstate how cool this event is!
Westminster has put on the PEEPshow for 12 years and host the event in April that is a marshmallow display must see! Competitors must turn PEEPS into a masterpiece all their own with the themes changing from year to year.
Visitors fill the 260 movie theater seats to watch a short film of how the peeps are created in their Just Born Factory, you can enjoy the displays from 45-90 minutes once you’re inside. Photo’s can be taken but please refrain from touching the sugary masterpieces. The display features oversized characters, sculptures, graphic arts, and dioramas all inspired by PEEPS.
Make sure you vote on your favorite PEEP display before leaving! May the best PEEP win!
