Here we are, limping through another August that is simply way too hot. But that means it’s time for the annual Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival! Come down to Fiesta Gardens on Sunday, Aug. 24 from 11 am – 5 pm for one of the best free weekend events of the year.

The Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival is one of the largest hot sauce contests in the world. It features a taste-test competition to decide who has the best salsa in town, split into three categories: individuals (homemade), restaurant, and commercial bottlers. You can wander through the tents with a dish of chips to sample some of the hundreds of hot sauce entries and then vote for the best. Admission is free but will cost you a donation of 3 healthy and non-perishable food items to the Capital Area Food Bank.

This year will feature a raffle to raise money for the Capital Area Food Bank, as well as food trucks (you can’t survive on hot sauce alone), and live music from Rosie and the Ramblers, El Tule, Gumbo Ce Soir, and Latasha Lee & The Blackties. Bring water, hats and sunscreen because hot sauce fest weather is basically at roasting level. More details, including information on how you can enter your own hot sauce into the cometition, can be found here.

Latasha Lee and the Blackties: