The Music City Hot Chicken Fest returns to East Nashville

The inside coop: Local hot chicken restaurants will set up shop to feed festivalgoers, including Prince's, Smack Ya Momma Chicken Shack Express, Hurts Hot Chicken, Eugene's, Nashville Chicken and Waffles, Hattie B's, Momma Joy's and Bill's Hot Fish and Chicken. We suggest trying them all.

• Think of it as a sort of around the world challenge that's also a really bad idea.
• Yazoo will provide the beer. There's also a fun zone for kids and live music.
• The amateur contest is a prestigious badge of honor for home chefs who have mastered Nashville's vintage dish.

Flashback: Hot Chicken Fest launched in 2007. It was the brainchild of then-Mayor Bill Purcell, who explained his thought process to the Bitter Southerner in an excellent story about the history of the dish.

• "Hot chicken is truly our indigenous food," Purcell said. "It seemed a way to convene the city around something special to us, worth celebrating but also allowed everybody to participate."

If you go: Music City Hot Chicken Fest takes place at East Park from 11am until 3pm.

• It's free to attend. Vendors are cashless, so bring a card.