Department of Tourism
London's World Chicken Festival Is a Culinary Feast

LONDON, Ky. – If you’re partial to fried chicken, you’d better not miss the Annual World Chicken Festival Sept. 27-30, 2007 in London, Ky.

The festival features the world’s largest stainless steel skillet for frying the poultry: more than 10 feet in diameter, weighing more than 700 pounds and requiring 300 gallons of cooking oil to fill. The skillet, manufactured by a local metal works and welders, can cook 600 quarters of chicken at one time. Organizers say they’ve served more than 40,000 chicken dinners since the festival’s kickoff in 1992.

London is located in Laurel County, which prides itself on being the home of Kentucky Fried Chicken founder Colonel Harland Sanders’ first restaurant. The restaurant, established in 1940, has been restored and is located at Corbin, about 20 miles south of London. Lee Cummings, co-founder of Lee’s Famous Recipe chicken, also began his career with Sanders, his uncle, in Laurel County in 1952.

Besides filling up on fried chicken, festival-goers can enjoy live entertainment, a parade, a car show, thrill rides and games, a volleyball tournament, a 5K race and displays by more than 200 exhibitors throughout the four-day event. Chicken is served on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, but not on Sunday.

Designated a Kentucky Tourism Council “Top 10” Event and a “Top 20” Event by the Southeast Tourism Society, the World Chicken Festival, the festival attracts as many as 200,000 visitors, according to event organizers.

London, a historic crossroads town that traces its roots to the days of Daniel Boone, is located at the intersection of I-75, the Hal Rogers Parkway and U.S. 25E. For more information, visit the festival’s web site at www.chickenfestival.com or call 800-348-0095.
 

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The Kentucky Department of Tourism, an agency of the Kentucky Commerce Cabinet, exists to promote The Commonwealth as a travel destination, generate revenue and create jobs for Kentucky’s economy.