PIZZA CITY FEST NASHVILLE BRINGS 40 PIZZERIAS
AND MORE TO FIRST HORIZON PARK, OCTOBER 19-20, 2024
After successful events in Chicago and L.A., the event brings together the best pizza makers from the Southeastern U.S. for two days of tastings, demos and discussions, plus live music
NASHVILLE, TN – SEPTEMBER 18, 2024 – Pizza City Fest is thrilled to announce the next stop on its nationwide tour, with a stellar lineup set to headline its highly anticipated event. Scheduled to take place on October 19 and 20 at First Horizon Park – nestled in the heart of Downtown Nashville – this two-day celebration promises an unparalleled experience for pizza aficionados in the Southeastern U.S.
Attendees will have the exclusive opportunity to savor unlimited offerings from the region’s premier pizza artisans, all conveniently located in one central hub. Pizza City Fest Nashville will celebrate the Southeastern U.S.’s unique pizza landscape, showcasing the diverse and exceptional talents of the region’s top pizza makers. Commercial ovens will line the Warning Track at the ball field, with pizza makers baking live all day.
Emmy and 13-time James Beard Award-winning food reporter Steve Dolinsky has curated another stellar list of pizza makers spanning the region from St. Louis to Birmingham, adding a half dozen other cities just outside of Nashville to complement the lineup.
In addition to the formidable list of participating pizzerias, Pizza City Fest Nashville has assembled an incredible line-up of chefs, authors and experts who will share both their knowledge and love of pizza in a series of panel discussions and demonstrations throughout the weekend, in a theater setting located in the right field concourse.
“We’re thrilled to be in Nashville for our fifth Pizza City Fest!” said Founder Steve Dolinsky. “The pizza scene in the Southeast continues to heat up, and so while we’ve invited some of the most popular pizzerias from the Music City, we’ve also curated about a dozen other notable pizzas from places like Birmingham, Louisville, St. Louis and Memphis, featuring a range of styles, including Detroit, Chicago deep-dish, tavern style, Sicilian, Neapolitan and Roman. Our speaker series also brings some of the best-in-class dough pros to First Horizon Park to share their expertise. As always, every pizza on-site will be baked and served straight from the oven.” New to the festival this year, since it’s based in Nashville, will be live bands each day at 4 p.m., as well as live performances each day by pizza acrobat Luigi Primo.
The official charitable partner for Pizza City Fest Nashville is The Nashville Food Project, a community food project that brings people together to grow, cook and share nourishing food. They connect people to nutritious food and to each other, through urban agriculture projects, made-from-scratch meals prepared in their kitchens, and food shared with local poverty-disrupting partners. They will arrange for pickups after each day of the festival to coordinate recycling/composting of leftover, raw ingredients.
TICKET INFORMATION
Regular tickets will be on sale for $79. VIP tickets ($169) allow guests one hour early admission and include special reserved seating, dedicated bar including three drink tickets, private restrooms and a swag bag including the official Festival T-shirt and other surprises. There are discounted two-day tickets available as well. All tickets include UNLIMITED pizzas from 20 different pizzerias each day, as well as salads, snacks and sweets; plus all demos and panel discussions and live music each day. Drinks are available for purchase.
For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit: www.pizzacityfest.com.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 19TH
Participating Pizzerias/Bakers
312 Pizza Co
Bella Napoli
Blanchard’s Organic Bread (Memphis)
Calabria Brick Oven Pizza (Mt. Juliet)
Dicey’s Tavern
Five Points
Goodfellas (Chattanooga, TN)
Hog & Hominy (Memphis)
Mikey’s Pizza
Mystery Light
NY Pie
Pizza Perfect
Problem Child (Little Rock, AR)
Rock ‘n Dough
Salvo’s Pizza
Slice Midtown (Memphis)
Soulshine Pizza
Uncle G’s Pizza (Birmingham, AL)
Union Loafers (St. Louis)
Salads: Ophelia’s Pizza + Bar
Snacks: The Secret Bodega
Sweets: Colts Chocolates
Panel Discussions and Demos
2 pm: “The Dough Whisperers”
Paulie Gee – Paulie Gee’s (Brooklyn, NY)
Michael Hanna – St. Vito Focacciaria (Nashville)
Robert Garvey – Robert’s Pizza & Dough Co. (Chicago)
Moderator: Ann Walczak, The Infatuation
3 pm: “Pizza Night at Home”
Alexandra Stafford – Author, “Pizza Night”
Moderator: AJ Jacobs, Comedian
4 pm: Book Signings
Music
12 pm: Jerry Pentecost (DJ)
2 pm: Jon Radford (DJ)
4 pm Patrick Sweany’s Tiger Beats
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 20TH
Participating Pizzerias and Bakers
Amico’s New York Pizza (Nolensville)
Camacho’s Famous (Clarksville)
Campione’s Taste of Chicago (Gallatin)
Gio’s Chicago Pizza
Il Forno
Mag Mile Pizza
Original Valentina’s Pizzeria (Madison, AL)
Pastaria
PennePazze
Pinky Ring Pizza (Madison, TN)
Pizza Grace (Birmingham)
PizzaVia (St. Louis)
Robert’s Pizza & Dough Co. (Chicago)
Roy’s Tavern
Slim’s (Birmingham)
Smith & Lentz Brewery
St. Francis Apizza (Cincinnati)
St. Vito Focacceria
Salads: Tower Market & Deli
Snacks: Chauhan
Sweets: Fat Belly Pretzel
Demos
2 pm: “Pan Style Like a Pro”
Justin De Leon – Apollonia’s (Los Angeles)
Moderator: Jackie Gutierrez-Jones, Senior Writer & Reviewer, The Infatuation
3 pm: “Stop Using Store Bought Dough!”
Joe Carlucci – Original Valentina’s Pizzeria (Madison, AL)
Moderator: Lokelani Alabanza, Founder, Saturated Ice Cream
4 pm: Book Signings
Music
12 pm: Gordon Persha (DJ)
2 pm: Megan Coleman (DJ)
4 pm: Weird Pals
About Pizza City Fest
Pizza City Fest was created in 2022 by Steve Dolinsky – a 13-time James Beard Award-winning food reporter, and currently “The Food Guy” at NBC 5 Chicago. He’s written two books on the subject, launched a weekly tour business, produces and hosts a bi-monthly podcast and is now taking the next logical step – creating a series of pizza festivals with three objectives in mind: showcase a region’s unsung pizza artisans; educate and inform the public on how to make better pizza at home and what goes into great pizza; finally, to give back to the community through charitable partnerships. The first Pizza City Fest in Chicago brought together 40 of the region’s best pizza makers for two days of pizza making and appreciation all in one location.
About The Greatest Show Events
PCF Nashville will be produced by The Greatest Show Events, an event production company based in Nashville. Founder and CEO Tara Chasteen started out working for Disney World in catering, convention services and weddings, eventually moving to Gaylord Opryland in Nashville. After leaving the hotel world, Tara established the event department for Nissan Stadium and Tennessee Titans. In her tenure, she created the private and the full stadium event operations from the ground up. TGSE excels at not only event management, but also destination management and site management.
Media Contacts:
Steve Dolinsky
773-552-1377
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