For many, macaroni and cheese is the ultimate comfort food.
So, it’s no wonder that Community Grief Support would focus its annual fundraiser on the gooey, chewy dish.
The group’s 6th Annual “Magic City Mac + Cheese Festival,” hosted by the group’s junior board, will be Nov. 12, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at Back Forty Beer Company.
More than 3,500 participants are expected to taste Mac + Cheese dishes from Birmingham’s favorite restaurants, food trucks, caterers, eateries, corporate teams and home chefs.
Emceed by Janice Rogers, Fox 6’s Good Day Alabama co-anchor, the Mac + Cheese Festival is a family- and pet-friendly event, with live music by Southern Choice, a kids’ zone, balloon artists, face painting and crafts, among other activities.
There also will be local celebrity and kid judges to decide the overall Mac + Cheese winner.
“The Mac + Cheese Festival has become quite an anticipated and well-attended community event and a tradition for the past six years,” Catherine Pittman Smith, administrative director of Community Grief support, said in a statement. “When one thinks of comfort food, mac ‘n’ cheese is always a favorite. With the ‘comfort’ Community Grief Support brings to loss survivors who are grieving after the death of a loved one, we decided that nothing could translate ‘comfort’ better than what Mac + Cheese brings.”
For the first time, commemorative Mac + Cheese forks will be available for purchase this year.
2023 Mac + Cheese Festival vendors include: Alabama Ali, Battle Axe’s Feast, Fultondale Fire Department’s Chief Grilldaddy & the Old Guys, Birmingham Zoo, Katie’s Plates, Lil Bougie Foodie LLC, Porky’s Pride, Urban Cookhouse and 1918 Catering.
Proceeds from the festival benefit free grief services and programs to individuals and families in need.
Tickets may be purchased at communitygriefsupport.org/macfest. They are $20 if bought before the event and $25 if bought the day of the festival. Tickets for children 6-12 are $5, and children 5 and younger can attend for free.
Interested vendors or sponsors may contact Smith at [email protected] or 205.870.8667.
