The Delmarva Chicken Association is hosting on Saturday the return of the Delmarva Chicken Festival in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the broiler chicken industry. The event is slated for tomorrow, October 7th, at the Arthur W. Perdue Stadium in Salisbury from 1 to 7 p.m. It is the first Chicken Festival since 2014.
Attractions at the 2023 Delmarva Chicken Festival will include food vendors, an open-air marketplace, kids’ activities (including touch-a-truck exhibits, a petting zoo, and bounce houses), a “Walk Through History” tent with historical displays, a virtual reality tour of a chicken farm, baby chicks for visitors to hold, two stages with programming, and more. Live music will be performed throughout the day by The Jones Boys, Jimmy Charles, and Mike Hines & The Look. The ‘Chicken Capers’ contests, which pit teams of employees from Delmarva’s five chicken companies against each other in field day-style games, are returning for the 2023 event. A fireworks show will round out the event at 7 p.m.
More information including a full schedule of events at the Festival can be found on the Delmarva Chicken Association’s website.
Delmarva Chicken Association, in the years when it was known as Delmarva Poultry Industry, Inc., organized an annual festival from 1948 (when it was known as the Chicken of Tomorrow Festival) until 2014, when the festival ended. Historically, the Delmarva Chicken Festival featured parades, chicken cooking contests, and fried chicken prepared in the world’s largest fry pan, 10 feet in diameter. The 2023 festival will pay homage to those traditions, but with a modern twist, focusing on local food, live music, and family-friendly attractions. This year, DCA’s “Growing For 100 Years” campaign celebrates the 100th anniversary of Delmarva’s chicken industry, which began in 1923 with a broiler flock raised by Ocean View, Del.’s Cecile Steele, as well as the 75th anniversary of the founding of DCA.
