The MoonPie Festival in Bell Buckle is celebrating its 30^th birthday this year when the tradition returns June 21. The event is set for 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. in downtown Bell Buckle.

“We are going to really shake it up for this year’s festival.  And we do mean Shake It Up Baby!” organizers revealed. “There will be a Shake It Up Baby Dance Off where anyone that wants to enter will be provided a cup with ice cream and milk, and when the music starts let the music move you to milkshake motion! The judges will narrow down the field till we get to the final milkshake madness that will determine who can really shake things up in Bell Buckle! Waaaaay back and long ago, this event was a highlight with hundreds of happy dancers from small children to our fun senior crowd. We’ve heard the memories of how much this has been missed and are bringing it back.”

There will be games throughout the day at the event which is free of charge.

“And you know you absolutely cannot have a birthday party without birthday games,” organizers said. “So yes, we will definitely have our ever popular MoonPie games that includes the MoonPie Toss, the hulahoop contest where contestants eat a MoonPie and drink an RC Cola while never letting that hulahoop fall, the RC Cola balancing game where contestants walk the stage pad with an RC balanced on their head (Round 2 stacks TWO RC cans; we’ve even gone to three). But in addition to that, there will be birthday party games for more fun and opportunities to smile and laugh.  Oh yeah, and did we mention all of this is FREE.” 

There will also be athletic competition during the Festival as their annual races will be held.

“The day’s activities kicks off with the Sweetest Race you will ever run – the certified RC-MoonPie 10 Mile and 5K races,” organizers noted. “Some will run for the roses, in Bell Buckle we run for the MoonPies. That’s more incentive in our opinion!  The 10 miler is a runner’s dream course meandering through beautiful peaceful pastoral landscapes. There is even a ‘killer hill- as runners lovingly refer to it at the 4.5 mile mark that is always the topic of post-race conversation.  The incredibly popular 5K course takes runners through a journey of Bell Buckle neighborhoods and tree lined streets where friendly locals make encouraging signs and cheer the runners on to the finish line!  And these sweet races do not skimp on the swag including  t-shirts to all pre-registered runners, finishers medals, age category awards for both races, a post-race breakfast that of course includes MoonPies and ice cold RC Colas, and that home-town friendliness that you just can’t get anywhere like you get in Bell Buckle.” 

This year Bell Buckle will crown MoonPie King Sam Campbell V and Queen Mallie Campbell straight from the royal Chattanooga Bakery. After the Royal Coronations, there will be games, contests, photo ops, and of course the Crème de la Crème – the cutting of the World’s Largest MoonPie. This year’s flavor is as always top secret.