Popular longtime NC fall festival goes virtual due to delta variant COVID surge

A popular North Carolina fall festival that draws over 16,000 annual visitors is switching to a virtual event this year due to a local and regional surge in delta variant COVID cases, organizers said Thursday.

The NC Fall Liver Mush Festival: Mush, Music and Mutts has been a mainstay in uptown Shelby for at least 30 years.

Last year, COVID canceled the festival that celebrates all things liver mush.

As organizers prepared for a “normal” festival this year, the rise in delta variant cases caused them to reconsider their plans, festival Director Emily Epley said in a statement Thursday.

While the 2021 Little Miss Liver Mush Pageant has been canceled, other popular festival events will continue virtually, including the Liver Mush Cooking Video Contest, Epley said. A Virtual Marketplace showcasing arts and crafts vendors and a Virtual Pet Costume Contest also are planned, she said.

Liver mush, a western North Carolina specialty, is described by Southern Living as a “puree of pig’s liver and spices bound with enough cooked cornmeal mush to make it moldable and sliceable.”

Plans for those and other activities will be announced soon on the festival’s social media channels, including on Facebook and Eventeny.com, she said.

Organizers say Oct. 15 is the possible date, although details are still being worked out, according to the event’s Facebook page.

“We WILL still have ‘SO MUSH’ fun,” Epley said in an email announcing the switch to online.