Downtown Springfield is gearing up for its eighth annual MustardFest, and this year's lineup includes competitive eating champion Joey Chestnut, longtime Cincinnati Reds broadcaster Marty Brennaman, and a batch of new contests that organizers say keep growing every year. The two-day festival runs Friday, Sept. 11 through Saturday, Sept. 12, spreading across Mother Stewart's Brewing Company and National Road Commons Park in the city's core.
The festival is presented by Woeber Mustard Company, the Springfield-based condiment maker that has operated in the city for more than 120 years across four generations of family ownership, according to Woeber's Mustard Company. Woeber's was founded in 1905 by German immigrant Carl Woeber, who got his start selling homemade mustards door-to-door from a horse and buggy. As reported by the Springfield News-Sun, the company partners with the Greater Springfield Partnership and Mother Stewart's to put on the festival, which includes competitions, food tastings, live entertainment and other activities.
Chestnut Returns for a Third Straight Year
Chestnut, described in the article as world competitive eating champion and recordholder, is making his third consecutive MustardFest appearance. He'll meet attendees, sign autographs, take photos and excite the crowd, per the paper's reporting. Kristina Jarrell, downtown events programmer for the Greater Springfield Partnership, said Chestnut accepted the invitation immediately.
“We're really excited. We just keep coming up with new things each year,” Jarrell said, according to the Springfield News-Sun's account of this year's additions. Chestnut's drawing power is hard to overstate: he won his 18th Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest title in July, downing 66 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes, and holds the world record of 76 hot dogs and buns set in 2021, per ABC News. He holds more than 50 competitive eating world records across various food categories.
MustardFest will host its own eating showdown, too. The annual Woeber's Hot Mustard & Horseradish Eating Contest is capped at 24 serious eaters, who will work through jalapeno, wasabi, sriracha and 10x hot horseradish rounds for a shot at the mustard belt. Registration costs $10, and the festival is directing entrants to sign up quickly.
Marty Brennaman Joins the Festivities
Also on hand this year is Brennaman, the longtime Cincinnati Reds radio personality and National Baseball Hall of Fame inductee, who will meet and greet fans and join festival activities. Brennaman spent 46 seasons as the Reds' radio play-by-play voice from 1974 to 2019, received the Hall of Fame's Ford C. Frick Award in 2000, and was honored with a statue outside Great American Ball Park last September, according to MLB.com. He's famous among Reds fans for his signature victory catchphrase, “And this one belongs to the Reds!” His appearance ties neatly into Woeber's status as the official mustard of the Cincinnati Reds.
New This Year: Wiener Dogs, Mustard Men and Ink
Among the fresh additions is a Human Wiener Dog Contest limited to 12 pairs, which requires a two-person inflatable wiener dog costume and welcomes all ages and skill levels. Friends can compete together on the course across four heats and a final, with wiener dog races kicking off at 3:30 p.m. The festival's Friday kickoff also features a wiener dog pageant awarding the fattest and longest wiener dogs.
Other new attractions include Woeber's Mustard Man Contest and a temporary tattoo station featuring three festival-themed designs. Organizers have also added a Woeber's tasting tent, an expanded beverage garden, a larger merchandise lineup and a returning kids' area to the main festival grounds.
Steinholding and the Grain to Glass Tasting
Saturday's schedule includes a steinholding competition limited to 15 men and 15 women, with $10 registration. It serves as an official qualifier for the U.S. Steinholding Association state championship, meaning winners advance to represent the area at the state level. Official rules from the U.S. Steinholding Association require competitors to hold a filled 1-liter glass stein with an extended, unbent arm parallel to the floor, with spillage or form infractions leading to elimination.
Friday's kickoff at Mother Stewart's Brewing Company, located at 102 W. Columbia St., begins at 6:30 p.m. and includes the From Grain to Glass Tasting, limited to 50 guests at $20 per ticket. The tasting features Mother Stewart's craft brew paired with Sheehan Brothers charcuterie and a curated mustard and craft beer tasting. Guests that evening will also receive a special ice cream, a custom-engraved Woeber's tasting board and a logo tasting glass. Mother Stewart's itself opened in 2016 inside a restored downtown building constructed in 1884 for the Metallic Casket Company, a nod to Springfield's history as a coffin manufacturing hub before mid-20th-century industrial declines, according to The 614orty-Niner.
Ice Cream, Food and the Main Festival
The main festival runs 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday at National Road Commons Park, 50 W. Main St., where local chefs will prepare foods using Woeber's flavorings and attendees will receive a complimentary Nathan's hot dog. One of the festival's signature offerings is Woeber's Honey Mustard Pretzel Crunch Ice Cream, created with Young's Jersey Dairy and described as similar to salted caramel; only 500 pints will be available. Young's, located in neighboring Yellow Springs, began dairy operations in 1946 on a farm dating to 1869 and produces roughly 75,000 gallons of ice cream annually, per Wikipedia, drawing nearly 1.5 million visitors a year for agritourism and dairy products.
National Road Commons Park itself was developed in 2011 as part of broader downtown revitalization efforts and sits along the historic route of U.S. 40, the nation's first federally funded interstate highway, according to EXPAND Greater Springfield. The park is also home to the 18-foot-tall Madonna of the Trail statue, dedicated on July 4, 1928, as the first of 12 national monuments commissioned by the Daughters of the American Revolution honoring pioneer women; future U.S. President Harry S. Truman spoke at the statue's dedication.
Festival organizers describe MustardFest as free to attend, though some competitions and attractions carry separate fees. The Greater Springfield Partnership, established in 1970, has helped generate more than $1.8 billion in fixed asset investment and create or retain more than 17,000 local jobs in Clark County, coordinating economic development, chamber of commerce and tourism functions for the city. That kind of civic investment has mattered in Springfield, which saw a 27% drop in median household income between 1999 and 2014 amid manufacturing declines, spurring city leaders to lean on breweries, parks and festivals like MustardFest to rebuild foot traffic downtown, per Wikipedia. Information and registration for this year's festival are available at mustard-fest.com.
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