Hot sauce samples are passed out to attendees at the 2022 Fiery Foods Festival, a tradition that will be honored again this year. Credit: Courtesy of Columbus Fiery Foods Festival
The spiciest festival in central Ohio is returning for another year.
The Fiery Foods Fest — hosted by Columbus-based event firm MGN and popular radio station CD 92.9 FM — will be held at Genoa Park along the Scioto Mile in downtown Columbus from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday and 12-6 p.m., Sunday.
The event, known for exploring the spicy side of Columbus restaurants, hot sauce and salsa vendors, has made one major change for this year’s event: This year, according to the event’s website, the festival includes free admission for everyone.
Mike Gallicchio, the event’s producer, said organizers decided to waive the event’s usual $5 admission fee in hopes of having as many attendees as possible.
“The festival supports over 70 small businesses,” Gallicchio said. “We want them all to do as well as possible.”
Gallicchio said the event includes live music, food trucks, hot and spicy food contests — like Mikey’s Late Night Slice hot pizza eating contest — and a large variety of hot sauce tastings.
Sauce Boss Gang — a female-founded, -owned and -operated hot sauce company — will be participating in the festival for the second year in a row. Nicole DiTommaso, the founder and owner of Sauce Boss Gang, said it has been an amazing experience getting to be one of the main sponsors for the event.
“When we were approached by Mike [Gallicchio] to become a sponsor, we jumped at the chance to collaborate with industry leaders we look up to,” DiTommaso said. “We are grateful that he chose us to add some girlboss energy to the event.”
DiTommaso said Sauce Boss Gang will have a tent at the festival, sampling and selling their full collection of hot sauce flavors.
“The exciting part is that we are dropping our two new spices at the fest,” DiTommaso said. “Volcanic Kiss is a roasted garlic, crushed habanero and red volcano sea salt blend and Churro Kiss, which is a churro sugar.”
DiTommaso said the most exciting part of this year’s event is that it is free for the community.
“The support has grown tremendously within the last year,” DiTommaso said. “We are all excited to be able to provide the community with a free family-friendly event.”
Along with Sauce Boss Gang, Gallicchio said there will be 67 total vendors at the event, including Hell’s Kitchen Hot Sauce, Sauce Goddess and Goodwood Brewing and Spirits.
For more information about the 2023 Fiery Foods Fest, visit their website.
