The South Carolina Cornbread Festival Returns After a 3-Year Hiatus!
After a three-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the North Columbia Business Association (NCBA)/North Main (NOMA) District is pleased to announce the return of the South Carolina Cornbread Festival on Sunday, April 30, 2023 from 11am-6pm at 2847 N. Main Street. The NCBA/NOMA District hosts South Carolina’s only event dedicated to the love of cornbread.
The mission of the South Carolina Cornbread Festival is to provide the North Columbia community the opportunity to be a part of the NCBA/NOMA District’s tradition and cultural pastime that brings people together for a fun-filled family experience.
The South Carolina Cornbread Festival welcomes approximately 8,000 attendees annually to the City of Columbia and Richland County. The festival proceeds enable the NCBA/NOMA District to market the corridor throughout the Midlands and host events throughout the year showcasing its merchants. The festival is a destination event that attracts attendees from around the region with over half of attendees between the ages of twenty-five and sixty, sixty percent female, forty percent male and eighty-five percent African American.
This year’s festival will take place at 2847 N. Main Street in Downtown Columbia in the grassy area in front of the NOMA Community Garden bordered by Anthony Avenue, Drayton and Newman Streets and River Drive.
Tickets are $10 in advance and $15 at the gate. Festivities will include live music, cornhole and bingo games, the Cornbread Alley, the Cornbread Cook-Off, the Cornbread Eating Competition, the Corn Muffin Playland, the Little Miss Muffin Pageant, craft vendors, food trucks and exhibitors.
Schedule of Activities: 10:30am Music Begins w/DJ 11am Welcome – Timmy Tim 11:30am Cornbread Cook-Off Finalists Announced 12pm Latin Hustle 1pm Cornbread Eating Contest Commences 1:15pm Caesar & Creole Soul 2:15pm Welcome – City Officials and Other Dignitaries 2:30pm Mac Arnold & Plate Full O’Blues 3:30pm Little Miss Muffin Pageant, Emceed by City of Columbia Councilwoman Tina Herbert and Maya Rosa Phillips, Ms. Black South Carolina International Ambassador 2023 and the former Miss Black SC USA 2020-2022 3:45pm Elliott & The Untouchables 4:45pm Line Dancing 5pm Precise Band 6pm Event Ends
Cornbread Cook Off Contest
Do you make cornbread hushpuppies, hoecakes or cornbread pudding? Do you make it sweet, spicy, buttery or cheesy? Do you make your cornbread a side dish, casserole, dipping bread and/or dessert? No matter how you make it, cornbread is a modest mainstay of Southern cuisine, and we celebrate it and its many creative ways to be made. If you think yours is one of the best, then we’d love for you to enter our cook off contest!
Trophies and monetary prizes will be awarded to the Top Three winners:
First Place – $150
Second Place – $100
Third Place – $50
Winners will be announced at the South Carolina Cornbread Festival on Sunday, April 30th.
Official Entry Rules
This contest is open to all legal residents of South Carolina.
All participants must be 18 years of age or older at time of entry.
Only one entry per family household will be allowed.
Participants must not be a professional chef or cook in any capacity.
All entries must be created from scratch and recipe must accompany application. Pre-mixed or pre-packaged products (Jiffy, Martha White, Krusteaz, etc.) will not be accepted.
Entries that require refrigeration will not be accepted.
Entries must be brought to the Ensor Keenan House – located at 801 Wildwood Avenue, Columbia, SC 29203 – on Saturday, April 29th between the hours of 9am-2pm. Judging will begin promptly at 2pm. Finalists will be announced that day.
Cornbread Alley will feature ten different cornbreads from bakers at Main Street Bakery and Publix. Entry is $5 and can be purchased on Eventbrite here. You can also purchase tickets at the festival.
All proceeds from the Cornbread Alley will benefit Koinonia of Columbia. Koinonia is a movement of people who seek to be a racially-reconciling, healing Presence in the Eau Claire community through the following goals:
Develop quality, affordable housing with paths toward home ownership.
Facilitate experiences of community (“koinonia”) at a level in which it is indistinguishable as to who is giving and who is receiving.
Encourage all individuals to know and celebrate their God-given skills and talents, operating according to the asset-based model.
Foster safe environments for children to learn, grow and reach their potential.
Promote local economic activity based on community needs.
Be community-driven (with a goal for the majority of our Board and staff living in the areas that we serve) and asset-based (identifying and building on the community’s strengths).
Their Mission
Koinonia of Columbia is an Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) non-profit in the community of Eau Claire. They are a racially-reconciling, healing presence in the Eau Claire community, anchored in their steadfast dependence on God and one another. They aspire to build community together through Christ by tapping into the skills, knowledge, talents and resources of the people of Eau Claire and through partnerships.
Anchored deep like the tree at the riverside…
Flying in formation together…
so that all may know community = Koinonia.
To learn more about Koinonia of Columbia, download their brochure here!
Live Music
Latin Hustle
12pm-12:45pm
Caesar & Creole Soul
1:15pm-2pm
Mac Arnold & Plate Full O'Blues
2:30pm-3:15pm
Elliott & The Untouchables
3:45pm-4:30pm
Precise Band
5pm-5:45pm
Timmy Tim
Host
Hello, and thank you for being interested in the Little Miss Muffin Pageant! This year marks year two that the pageant has been a part of the SC Cornbread Festival. Our focus is to shine confidence, courage, and FUN to our little ones in the community. We are NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS until April 8, 2023.
Questions? Contact Je’ or Edna at 803.271.0966 with any questions. Thank you and hope to see you there!
Little Miss Muffin Pageant Practice Schedule
Saturdays, April 1-29 from 10am-12pm
Pageant, April 30 at 3:30pm, Emceed by City of Columbia Councilwoman Tina Herbert and Maya Rosa Phillips, Ms. Black South Carolina International Ambassador 2023 and the former Miss Black SC USA 2020-2022
South Carolina Cornbread Festival 2023
Presented by NCBA/NOMA District
The South Carolina Cornbread Festival Returns After a 3-Year Hiatus!
After a three-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the North Columbia Business Association (NCBA)/North Main (NOMA) District is pleased to announce the return of the South Carolina Cornbread Festival on Sunday, April 30, 2023 from 11am-6pm at 2847 N. Main Street. The NCBA/NOMA District hosts South Carolina’s only event dedicated to the love of cornbread.
The mission of the South Carolina Cornbread Festival is to provide the North Columbia community the opportunity to be a part of the NCBA/NOMA District’s tradition and cultural pastime that brings people together for a fun-filled family experience.
The South Carolina Cornbread Festival welcomes approximately 8,000 attendees annually to the City of Columbia and Richland County. The festival proceeds enable the NCBA/NOMA District to market the corridor throughout the Midlands and host events throughout the year showcasing its merchants. The festival is a destination event that attracts attendees from around the region with over half of attendees between the ages of twenty-five and sixty, sixty percent female, forty percent male and eighty-five percent African American.
This year’s festival will take place at 2847 N. Main Street in Downtown Columbia in the grassy area in front of the NOMA Community Garden bordered by Anthony Avenue, Drayton and Newman Streets and River Drive.
Tickets are $10 in advance and $15 at the gate. Festivities will include live music, cornhole and bingo games, the Cornbread Alley, the Cornbread Cook-Off, the Cornbread Eating Competition, the Corn Muffin Playland, the Little Miss Muffin Pageant, craft vendors, food trucks and exhibitors.
Schedule of Activities:
10:30am Music Begins w/DJ
11am Welcome – Timmy Tim
11:30am Cornbread Cook-Off Finalists Announced
12pm Latin Hustle
1pm Cornbread Eating Contest Commences
1:15pm Caesar & Creole Soul
2:15pm Welcome – City Officials and Other Dignitaries
2:30pm Mac Arnold & Plate Full O’Blues
3:30pm Little Miss Muffin Pageant, Emceed by City of Columbia Councilwoman Tina Herbert and Maya Rosa Phillips, Ms. Black South Carolina International Ambassador 2023 and the former Miss Black SC USA 2020-2022
3:45pm Elliott & The Untouchables
4:45pm Line Dancing
5pm Precise Band
6pm Event Ends
Cornbread Cook Off Contest
Do you make cornbread hushpuppies, hoecakes or cornbread pudding? Do you make it sweet, spicy, buttery or cheesy? Do you make your cornbread a side dish, casserole, dipping bread and/or dessert? No matter how you make it, cornbread is a modest mainstay of Southern cuisine, and we celebrate it and its many creative ways to be made. If you think yours is one of the best, then we’d love for you to enter our cook off contest!
Trophies and monetary prizes will be awarded to the Top Three winners:
Winners will be announced at the South Carolina Cornbread Festival on Sunday, April 30th.
Official Entry Rules
Entries must be brought to the Ensor Keenan House – located at 801 Wildwood Avenue, Columbia, SC 29203 – on Saturday, April 29th between the hours of 9am-2pm. Judging will begin promptly at 2pm. Finalists will be announced that day.
Judging Criteria
All entries will be judged on the following:
Cornbread Alley
Cornbread Alley will feature ten different cornbreads from bakers at Main Street Bakery and Publix. Entry is $5 and can be purchased on Eventbrite here. You can also purchase tickets at the festival.
All proceeds from the Cornbread Alley will benefit Koinonia of Columbia. Koinonia is a movement of people who seek to be a racially-reconciling, healing Presence in the Eau Claire community through the following goals:
Develop quality, affordable housing with paths toward home ownership.
Facilitate experiences of community (“koinonia”) at a level in which it is indistinguishable as to who is giving and who is receiving.
Encourage all individuals to know and celebrate their God-given skills and talents, operating according to the asset-based model.
Foster safe environments for children to learn, grow and reach their potential.
Promote local economic activity based on community needs.
Be community-driven (with a goal for the majority of our Board and staff living in the areas that we serve) and asset-based (identifying and building on the community’s strengths).
Their Mission
Koinonia of Columbia is an Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) non-profit in the community of Eau Claire. They are a racially-reconciling, healing presence in the Eau Claire community, anchored in their steadfast dependence on God and one another. They aspire to build community together through Christ by tapping into the skills, knowledge, talents and resources of the people of Eau Claire and through partnerships.
Anchored deep like the tree at the riverside…
Flying in formation together…
so that all may know community = Koinonia.
To learn more about Koinonia of Columbia, download their brochure here!
Live Music
Latin Hustle
Caesar & Creole Soul
Mac Arnold & Plate Full O'Blues
Elliott & The Untouchables
Precise Band
Timmy Tim
Get Involved!
Become a Sponsor, Vendor or Volunteer at the Festival!
Sponsors
Sponsorships will be accepted through Friday, March 31st.
Vendors
Vendor applications will be accepted through Friday, April 21st.
Volunteers
We are looking for 130 volunteers. If you or your group is interested, please reach out!
Thank You to All of Our 2023 South Carolina Cornbread Festival Sponsors!
Details
Organizer
Venue
Columbia, SC 29201 United States + Google Map