(Garden City, Ga) The Southern Roots Food & Music Festival is Aug. 24 in the Garden City Town Center. The day of celebration will be filled with live bands, food trucks, a fried chicken contest, a fireworks show and other events. Gates open at 1:45 p.m. 
 
The event will kick off with an amateur fried chicken contest followed by a vendor fried chicken contest at 2 p.m. Judges will crown the winners at 3 p.m. Festival attendees can also expect a variety of Southern food and Southern-inspired food. 6 Gear Dog House, Ben & Jerry’s, C&C Nut Factory, Chazito’s, Big Boy Cookies, BowTie Barbecue Co, Little Diddle’s Sweetery, Molly MacPherson’s, Ocean N Motion, The Big Cheese, The Magic Food Truck and Yoshi’s Kitchen food trucks will offer special menus for the event. Beer, wine and soft drinks will be sold in the Coca-Cola Garden and Southern Eagle Beer Garden. Attendees must have a valid I.D. to consume alcohol.
 
The music portion of the festival also begins at 2 p.m. with performances from all music genres. The band lineup includes Georgia Kyle Trio, A Nickel Bag of Funk, Bottles & Cans, Tell Scarlet, Emerald Empire Band and Chuck Courtenay. The headlining performance will begin around 8:30 p.m. with country music star Tracy Byrd. Byrd became a household name on the Country Music scene in 1993 when his single called "Holdin' Heaven" hit #1 on the Billboard Country Charts. Today, fans still enjoy hearing Tracy Byrd live and listening to hits such as “The Keeper of the Stars," “Love Lesson,” "Heaven in My Woman's Eyes" and “Watermelon Crawl.”
 
Tickets for the Southern Roots Food & Music Festival can be purchased online. The cost is $10 for early bird entrance before 5 p.m. and $25 for general admission during the main music event from 5 - 10 p.m. Ticket sales will also be offered at the event.