The National Fried Chicken Festival presented by Raising Canes, which had been scheduled for the weekend of October 23-24 on the New Orleans lakefront near the UNO Arena, has been canceled for the second year in a row due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

In an email sent this morning to festival sponsors and partners, Cleveland Spears III, the festival’s founder and executive producer, wrote, “Since the outset of the Covid19 pandemic, our team has maintained that the health and safety of our guests, crew, restauranteurs, entertainers, and overall community would always be our priority and guide all production decisions. Additionally, we have also watched other larger festivals closely, those that have shown a 50+ and 30+ year track record of safely hosting guests and have earned the public’s confidence over the decades.

“After watching the decisions of our peer festivals and consultation with local health officials, we have made the difficult and painful decision to cancel the 2021 National Fried Chicken Festival.

“This decision was particularly difficult as we know the independently owned restaurants our festival exists to support have had an extraordinarily difficult year throughout this ongoing pandemic. We remain committed to finding other ways to support those restaurants and driving our guests and would-be festival-goers to those establishments over the coming weeks and months.”

Spears noted that the festival organizers will contact all partners individually to discuss opportunities to support elocal restaurants, musicians, and culture bearers who are affiliated with the National Fried Chicken Festival. For. more information, visit friedchickenfestival.com.

Many major festivals slated for the fall in metro New Orleans have cancelled in recent weeks, including the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, French Quarter Festival, and the Gretna Heritage Festival. The BUKU: Planet B music festival is still scheduled for October 22-23 but in accordance with pandemic safety rules, proof of a COVID-19 vaccination or a negative test from the previous 72 hours will be required for entry.