Sacramento Grilled Cheese Festival is back. Here’s what you need to know
Southside Park was splashed with Saturday sunshine. The VIP ticket holders were perusing the grounds, smelling the hot pecans as they were getting prepared and getting tastes of local beverages.
But most importantly, they were scouting out the best places for grilled cheese sandwiches.
“I love grilled cheese,” said Jon Vargovich, who has been going to Sacramento’s annual Grilled Cheese Festival for years. “It’s cool to be able to try different kinds and get different takes on the grilled cheeses.”
The Grilled Cheese Festival has been going since 2017, aimed at offering a fun event for the Sacramento community and vendors while featuring local and out-of-town installations of food, beverage, music, art and good vibes. The event is scheduled to continue Sunday with tickets ranging from $10 to $200 on its website, offering different levels of access to food and the grounds.
Many of the vendors involved donate their time and products to benefit Shriners Children’s Hospital, said Jessica Palmer, the event producer for Seedless Events, which is running the festival.
“I cannot imagine a better cause than that,” Palmer said. “We are so excited to partner with them. ... I think there’s a lot (here) in terms of community, bringing a bit of rejuvenation into the park, but we also have an opportunity to connect people from across the city and out of town, which is pretty exciting. We really value the vendors who have contributed to make the event what it is.”
Palmer said she expected at least 3,000 people to attend the festival over its two days to help support the roughly 50 vendors and 15 restaurants and food providers making their best forms of grilled cheese, which will be named during an award ceremony 3 p.m. Sunday.
But why grilled cheese?
“Why not grilled cheese?” Palmer said. “I think it’s such a favorite comfort food for people, but at the same time, people are so creative with elevating that experience. So that’s what we’re trying to introduce people to is extraordinary takes on what some people might consider very traditional or very basic (food). Most people in the U.S. grow up with grilled cheese, but you get an opportunity to experience something really wets the taste buds, so to speak.”
Grilled cheese wasn’t the only focus. There were vendors offering dessert, beer, wine, spirits, caramel corn, root beer floats, olive oil and pecans from Krazy 4 Nutz of Yuba City, which were particularly fragrant along the aisle of vendors stationed near the event entrance.
“I thought, we don’t really make food,” said Monica Frere, who called herself the “Nuthouse Supervisor” at Krazy 4 Nutz. “We make treats. And I knew it would be a great complement to it. And we actually worked up a special recipe that includes some cheese secret ingredients. And it’s weird, but good.”
Additionally on Saturday: a show put on by the National Wrestling Alliance, which erected a wrestling ring on the west side of Southside Park, and live music from the Bread and Butter Band from Lake Tahoe.
“This is a really unique partnership,” Palmer said. “Kind of elevating the experience. This is not just grilled cheese, it’s not just alcohol. You come here to experience something really unique. ... So I think people are going to have a fantastic day.”
This story was originally published April 12, 2025 at 1:47 PM.
