Who knew there was a festival celebrating banana pudding? We certainly didn’t, until we stopped at the Tennessee welcome center and saw a poster advertising the 6th Annual National Banana Pudding Festival. It just so happened that the festival was in Centerville, TN the very weekend we were to be in the area. Of course we had to go!
We arrived mid-day to a field of cars. The outdoor event was full of craft vendors, music, and of course, BANANA PUDDING!
We were greeted as we arrived and were given a “1st Timer” sticker. They were trying to convince Robert to join the pie eating contest. Oh my, could you imagine cream pie all over his beard!
We ended up meeting the festival’s organizer, Glen. He welcomed us and we talked about where we were from and he told us how the festival began. Apparently, the little town had to borrow money from a neighboring town, just to function. They started the festival as a town fundraiser. It was so successful that they’ve opened it up to become a local nonprofit fundraiser.
As we meandered through the festival, one of the main events was the Puddin’ Path. This was a food tent featuring 10 different flavored puddings made by local nonprofit organizations. For $5.00, you get to taste a sample of all 10. From traditional to cheesecake to praline. Here’s an idea, replace vanilla wafers with MoonPies…yum! Our favorite was white chocolate and caramel.
You not only get to sample these unique flavored puddings, you could take your favorite home if you wanted. Also, you could vote for your favorite one, by putting dollars in the jar of your choice. It’s one of the biggest fundraisers for the nonprofits for the year.
Restaurants competed in the National Banana Pudding Restaurant Competition. Although we didn’t stay around to see the professionals in action, we saw them get things started.
We enjoyed some local music and I’m always attracted to the crafts. After getting our fill of pudding, we had to roll ourselves out. We certainly had our fill.
