Guy Fieri taps Nashville stars including Kane Brown, LOCASH for first ever Flavortown Fest

Guy Fieri once said, "I can’t play the guitar, but I can play the griddle." But now, the culinary superstar is dipping his toe into the music world in a different way. He's throwing a Flavortown Fest that fuses food and funk, featuring Nashville performers.

The inaugural Flavortown Fest will take place in Fieri's birthplace, Columbus, Ohio on June 1 and 2. Fans can expect a jam-packed weekend with food, flavor and fun.

The two day event will feature live performances from quite a handful of Nashville musicians, including rock band Greta Van Fleet, country singer Kane Brown, frontman of rock band Poison, Bret Michaels, country duo LOCASH and feel good pop singer Niko Moon.

Guy Fieri is known to most as a chef, restaurateur, author, TV host, and overall, a culinary superstar. Called the Mayor of Flavortown, Fieri is the face of Food Network’s "Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives," "Guy’s Grocery Games" and "Tournament of Champions." Fieri has constructed a business empire comprised of over 80 restaurants worldwide.

“You’ve been askin’ and we’ve been plannin’…Flavortown Fest is comin’ to Columbus!" Fieri said.

"And I couldn’t be more stoked to finally announce that we’re bringing the heat to the Flavortown stage with my buddies Kane Brown, Greta Van Fleet, Bret Michaels, LOCASH, Niko Moon and even more to come. You’re not gonna want to miss this!"

“I’m adding a special stop to my In The Air tour going straight to Flavortown,” Kane Brown said in a statement.

“I can’t think of a better way to celebrate all the good times coming up in 2024 than with Guy and his fun-loving, food-loving community in the amazing city of Columbus. I’ll be hungry and ready to rock!”

Flavortown Fest: A festival unlike any other

It's hard to know exactly what real-life Flavortown will look like, but fans can get a pretty good grasp from Fieri's references over the years.

"We’re takin’ you on a road rockin’ trip down to Flavortown, where the gravitational force of bacon warps the laws of space and time,” Fieri once said. "That [deep fryer] looks like the community pool in Flavortown,” he remarked another time.

The festival's website says, "This is not your average festival. It will be packed with cook-offs, chef demos, shows, rides, games, and tons of ways to give back…plus a few curveballs mixed in."

Flavortown Fest will take over the lawn at CAS, a 54-acre campus by the Olentangy River in Columbus. The weekend will include bites from some of Fieri's favorite "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" restaurants in the Columbus area—encouraging festival goers to eat, drink and be merry.

The festival's Main Street is called "B*tchin' Avenue," and Flavortown residents can check out at the Not So General, General Store for collectibles, The Pit Stop for classic cars and diner staples, take a rest on Chill Hill or see a comedy battle at The Flavortown Fest Hometown Stage.

There will also be a Culinary Stadium where fans can bear witness to culinary competitions from some unannounced big names in the foodie world.

The festival is being thrown alongside the Guy Fieri Foundation. The foundation, which was established in 2011, first taught new chefs how to cook. The charity later pivoted to supporting first responders in disaster locations and celebrating local heroes, military personnel, and veterans.

There is another charitable aspect to the weekend, too. CAS, a division of the American Chemical Society, plans to launch a new program called Flavortown Cares.

It will work to uplift the Columbus community by donating portions of every ticket sold to the National Veterans Memorial and Museum, Ronald McDonald House Charities of Ohio and the Mid-Ohio Food Collective.

For more information on tickets, fans can visit flavortownfest.com.

Audrey Gibbs covers music at The Tennessean. Reach Audrey at agibbs@tennessean.com or on X at @AudreyRae_Gibbs.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Flavortown Fest: Guy Fieri taps Nashville acts Kane Brown LOCASH