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Knoxville Food Festivals & Events

International Festival
February
Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge


This festival has great entertainment, culture, crafts, and food from around the world for the whole family. Featured cultures include Appalachia, Belgium, Bolivia, China, Cuba, Dominican Republic, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Scotland, Spain, South Korea, Ukraine, Venezuela, Vietnam, and West Africa.

Food vendors offer tasty foods from Belgium, Bolivia, China, Cuba, Dominican Republic, France, Germany, Greece, India, Japan, Jordan, Mexico, Norway, Poland, Poland, Scotland, Spain, South Korea, Ukraine, and Venezuela.

Crafts for Kids: Egyptian necklaces, Spanish clothes pin dolls, Chinese drums, and Aboriginal masks.


High Tea at Crescent Bend
March/April
Crescent Bend House & Gardens


Guests enjoy the elegant pleasure of partaking in a formal High Tea and take the tour of the house museum and gardens where 25,000 tulips will be in bloom. Special entertainment will also be provided during teatime. Price includes the cost of admission to tour the house museum and gardens. Guest may choose to tour the house and gardens before or after the tea.


Rhythm & Blooms
April
Jackson Avenue in The Old City
Cost: Free, $ for food
Rhythm & Blooms


Set amidst the urban artistic cityscape of the ever-growing Jackson Avenue in Knoxville, Tennessee on April 4 & 5 and Knoxville Botanical Garden & Arboretum on April 6, Rhythm N’ Blooms celebrates the crossroads of Knoxville’s varied musical history. This American Roots music festival spotlights storied songwriters and rich performances from jazz to world-class bluegrass to indie – and everything in between.


The Rossini Festival
April
Downtown Gay Street & Market Square
Cost: Free, $ for food
The Rossini Festival


Celebrate the arts with a spectacular feast of dance, music, art exhibits, and opera from the Region’s best talent. This festival is attended by more than 100,000 people of all ages. 5 Stages, with 50 hours of free entertainment by 700+ artists. FunZone. Beer Garden, 100+ artisans and food vendors.


Market Square Art Fair
April
Downtown Gay Street & Market Square
Cost: Free, $ for food
Market Square Art Programs


Several city blocks are transformed into a lively street fair during the Market Square Art Fair in downtown Knoxville. Fine art and craft, live entertainment on three stages, a culinary arts demonstration and tasting area, A Children’s Creation Station, and festive food characterize this fan-favorite featured event of the Dogwood Arts Festival. The Market Square Art Fair is a juried show with over 70 local and regional artists exhibiting and selling their original work. In addition to the artists’ areas in Market Square and Krutch Park, a culinary arts experience tops off the event. Cooking demonstrations, festive food creations, and delicious wine tasting will be featured in the Culinary Arts areas. Enjoy live entertainment all weekend long on the Market Square stage, the Union Avenue pop-up stage, and the Krutch Park stage geared towards children.


Barn Dance
June
Museum of Appalachia
Cost: $

The Museum of Appalachia, a Smithsonian Affiliate museum, will host its annual Barn Dance, which includes horse drawn wagon rides, a sumptuous southern buffet dinner, and traditional Appalachian dancing accompanied by live music.


Kuumba Festival
June
Kuumba Festival
Cost: Free Admission; $Parking, $Food

This is the largest African American cultural arts festival in East Tennessee. Many events take place throughout the city. Kick-off events will be at Krutch Park and Haley Heritage Square with a luncheon, a choir, a Kuumba Watoto Dance and Drumline performance, musical guests, along with other performances.

On Friday in downtown Knoxville and on Market Square, a youth arts extravaganza, African Market Place and a musical performance will fill the day's activities along with a parade which will begin on Cumberland and Market Street and end at Market Square. Parade participants will entertain on Market Square following the parade, including Kuumba Watoto Dance and Drum Line, churches, Free Spirit Stilt Walkers, and community groups who strut, drum, and dance.


KARM Dragon Boat Festival
June
The Cove at Concord Park
Cost: Free Admission; Free Parking; $Food

The Knoxville Dragon Boat Festival attracts thousands of people for high intensity boat races, music, cultural performances, children’s activities, and fantastic food. Over 60 teams compete in racing 41-foot Hong Kong style boats across the water on Loudon Lake at the Cove. Their challenge goal is to raise $200,000 to support the life-saving programs and services Knox Area Rescue Ministries provides those in need in our community.


July 4th Celebration & Anvil Shoot
July 4
Museum of Appalachia
Cost: $Admission; $Parking; $Food

Along with the big boom from the anvil shooting several times during the day, there are patriotic ceremonies and lots of old-time mountain music of the Southern Appalachian Mountains. A bell-ringing ceremony will occur at precisely 2:00 p.m. coinciding with the National Bell Ringing Ceremony when more than 10,000 bells across the country are rung in unison. Tasty foods include grilled hamburgers and hot dogs, kettle corn, homemade ice cream, cakes, pies and cookies.


Festival on the 4th
July 4
Cost: Free Admission; $Parking; $Food

Festival on the Fourth features family fun with entertainment, activities, and treats. A Salute to Our Troops kicks off the event at 2 p.m. followed by bluegrass band entertainment at 4:15. Taking the MainStage at 8pm is the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra and the Knoxville Symphony Festival Choir. Fireworks start at 9:35 pm. Food and beverages are available throughout the park.


Knox Asian Festival
August
Knoxville Asian Festival

Enjoy live on-stage performers, an educational tent featuring 20 Asian countries, a Marketplace with many food vendors, a healthy living area, and a kids play area. The Asian Festival features authentic traditional food vendors representing Asian Cultures such as Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Korea, China, Japan, Philippines, Bangladesh, Pakistani, and Vietnam. The event features traditional Indonesian Music: Angklung, which is one of the most famous instruments in Indonesia. It is made up of a number of bamboo tubes fixed on a bamboo frame.


Tennessee Valley Fair
September
Tennessee Valley Fair
Cost: $12 Adult; Seniors $9; Children 6-11 $9; Children 5 and under free
$15 Parking $Food

The Tennessee ValleyFair attracts more than 153,000 people to many fun-filled activities and events. A favorite part of the Tennessee Valley Fair is its food vendors.

Symphony in the Park
September
Ijams Nature Center
Cost: $

Symphony in the Park is an enchanted evening with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra at Ijams Nature Center. The event benefits Ijams’ quality environmental education programs, 300-acre wildlife sanctuary and care of non-releasable animals. This elegant and enchanting outdoor event is a highlight of Knoxville’s fall social calendar. This year’s event features special musical guests.


Greek Fest
September
Greek Fest
Friday & Saturday: 11:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m.
Sunday: 12:00 noon - 6:00 p.m.
Saint George Greek Orthodox Church, 4070 Kingston Pike
Cost: $3 Adults; weekend passes $5; children 12 and under free

This 3-day festival of live music, traditional Greek dancing, authentic Greek food, and delicious Greek pastries is an opportunity for East Tennesseans to experience Greek culture and cuisine. You will also be able to shop for authentic Greek wares such as clothing, ceramics, jewelry, books and icons. Cooking demonstrations will show you how to make a delicious Greek dish, and Papou’s Pantry will give you an opportunity to shop for authentic Greek ingredients.


John Sevier Days
September
John Sevier Days
Saturday: 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Marble Springs State Historic Site
Cost: $5 Adult (16+); $3 per child (7-15); 6 and under free
$Food

Celebrate the life and times of the first governor of Tennessee, John Sevier, in commemoration of his 269th birthday. Events include 18th century demonstrations such as open-hearth cooking; spinning and weaving, blacksmithing, weapons demonstrations, which will showcase tomahawks and period-appropriate firearms; 18th century style militia drills; regional craft demonstrations, historic lectures and more! The Nolichucky Pictures production of the award-winning The Mysterious Lost State of Franklin will be on view through the weekend. Food, drinks, and special treats will be available.


Hola Festival
September
Saturday: 7:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.
Sunday: 12:00 noon - 5:00 p.m.
Market Square, Downtown Knoxville
Cost: Free; $ for food
Hola Festival

Discover the culture of Hispanic people throughout the world at this annual festival featuring music, food vendors, country exhibits, and a craft marketplace. The festival is held in downtown Knoxville beginning at the Gay Street viaduct and running along Depot Avenue between Gay Street and Williams Street. More than 24 countries are represented through displays, tasty food, and music.


Fall Heritage Days
October
Museum of Appalachia
Cost: $Admission; $Parking; $Food

This three-day Homecoming is one of the nation's largest and most authentic music and folk festivals. Each day, musicians perform on five stages, filling the air with traditional mountain, folk, bluegrass, Gospel, and old-time country tunes. The weekend includes demonstrations of pioneer skills, a large craft fair with authentic Appalachian artisans, and traditional Southern foods. The Museum offers a picturesque backdrop for this annual festival with its dozens of historic log buildings, display halls filled with authentic artifacts, and gardens and farm animals surrounded by split-rail fences.



Candlelight Christmas
December
Museum of Appalachia
Cost: $Admission; $Parking; $Food

Recreate a meaningful holiday of simpler pleasures and homier joys. Traditional trees and homemade decorations, typical of austere pioneer days, transform the Museum’s authentic log buildings; and in the one-room, dirt-floored “Dan'l Boone” cabin, strings of popcorn and cotton bolls circle a dormant tree. Paper chains and other ornaments trim the tree in the Little Tater Valley Schoolhouse.

Sweet gum and sycamore balls are strung throughout the Mark Twain Family Cabin, and a traditional silver star tops a native red cedar Christmas tree in the turn-of-the-century Peters Homestead House. Apples, nuts, homemade toys, and oranges fill stockings hung in the cabins.

Sing Christmas carols along with musicians in the Peter's Homestead House, where they'll be singing holiday and traditional songs every day during December. Sit and visit with the kids over some hot chocolate and Christmas cookies from the Museum Restaurant. Enjoy a homemade southern country lunch in front of the warm fireplace.

       
 

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