Great news for those who love classic southern fried chicken and want to celebrate it in the iconic city of New Orleans, Louisiana. After suspended for two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic, The National Fried Chicken Festival presented by Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers is returning this year. The fifth edition of the event will take place October 1st and 2nd at the New Orleans Lakefront.

According to the organizers, the Fifth Annual National Fried Chicken Festival will feature some of the best local and nationally known chefs and restaurants in New Orleans, where they will showcase their best versions of the dish.

“It has been incredible to see the return of so many events that our city has been missing over the course of the last two years,” said Cleveland Spears, III, FCF Executive Producer and President/CEO of the Spears Group in a press release. “We are incredibly grateful to our partners in Raising Cane’s and others for sticking with us through all of the ups and downs of the last few years, allowing us to bring back this festival which will be bigger and better than ever,” he added.

New Orleans Lakefront was chosen to house the event, after staging the three years of the festival along the Mississippi River in Woldenberg Riverfront Park and one year at Lafayette Square. The new location will provide festival-goers with more than one million square feet of beautiful waterfront views, spanning Lakeshore Drive from Franklin Avenue to the Seabrook Bridge.

Despite the event being canceled in 2021, the organizers found a way to promote the foodie festival. They decided to turn National Fried Chicken Festival into a weeklong celebration called National Fried Chicken Festival Week, which was held last October. During the National Fried Chicken Week, various restaurants and non-food vendors participated, offering the attendees samples of the featured dishes prepared by the establishments. Also, partnering restaurants featured off-menu items that would have been served at that year’s in-person festival across New Orleans throughout the week of the festival.

“We couldn’t be more excited to support the return of the Fried Chicken Festival,” said Todd Graves, Raising Cane’s Founder and CEO. “This festival celebrates our favorite menu item in one of our favorite cities and we are proud to continue to help it to grow. It’s going to be great having FCF back this fall!”

The organizers of the festival expect to break its attendance record this year surpassing the fourth annual event in 2019, which attracted over 183,000 guests across the three days.

Festival attendees can expect the return of the Best Fried Chicken Contest and Best Use of Chicken in a Dish Contest.

For more information, you can visit National Fried Chicken Festival website.