Around Our Lowcountry At the World Grits Festival Get Gritty
certainly a Southern staple. Or maybe my mom skimped on the wondrous Southern components of a good grits plate – butter, bacon and shrimp. Regardless of my past, one thing is certain in the present: Tis writer and grits are fond of one another. So when I was offered the chance to write about the rich, buttery ground
I BY CULLEN MURRAY KEMP
corn and the World Grits Festival in St. George, I reached into my cabinet for the bag of Quaker Grits and whipped up a celebratory bowl of you know what. Te history of the World Grits Festival is as rich as the grits themselves. Te event began in 1986, when St. George Piggly Wiggly – sigh – store manager Bill Hunter was ordering his usual shipment of grits from a distributor. A comment was made that “for a small town, St. George
MUST CONFESS THAT BEFORE MY relocation from Maryland’s blue crab-eating Eastern Shore to the Lowcountry, grits to me were just a gooey, white, post-church breakfast food that certainly did not get my motor humming. Perhaps there’s something to be said by the fact that I was a northerner and grits are
sure orders a lot of grits.” A few weeks later, Hunter heard the same remark from another grits distributor. After a little research, turns out that the folks of St. George, South Carolina, eat more grits per capita than anywhere else in the world. Could there possibly be a better place to hold the World Grits Festival? Te festival itself takes place every year on the weekend
of April 11 and attracts between 25,000 and 30,000 grits lovers from all corners of the country. Te festival is chock- full of fun events, including grits grinding, a carnival, dancing, eating and a 5k run. Te headliner of the World Grits Festival is Quaker’s
famous Roll In Te Instant Grits “competition.” Cheered on by adoring fans and others in the crowd, contestants have 10 seconds to see how many times they can roll over in a pool filled with Quaker’s instant grits. It’s not unusual to see an entire family – mom, dad, daughter and son – covered head to toe in grits, laughing merrily and immersed in the bliss that is the World Grits Festival.
For more information about the World Grits Festival, visit
www.worldgritsfestival.com.
More grits are eaten per capita in St. George than in any other place in the world. Is there a better place to hold the World Grits Festival? 78
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Photos Courtesy of World Grits Festival.
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