Inaugural Fried Chicken Festival takes place in Brookville

October 12, 2022 at 1:44 p.m.
Inaugural Fried Chicken Festival takes place in Brookville
Inaugural Fried Chicken Festival takes place in Brookville

By Steven Harmeyer -

The inaugural Fried Chicken Festival & Fry Off took place on the courthouse square Saturday afternoon in Brookville.

The festival was an opportunity for Southeastern Indiana restaurants and homefryers to put their fried chicken recipes to the test. 

Each participant was provided three whole chickens from Brookville Main Street to be fried and then submitted by a panel of judges.

State Senator Jeff Raatz served as one of the judges.

"We got to taste 17 different chicken recipes and they were all very good. It was a beautiful event and you got to hand it to the folks in Brookville to create an event like this and it will be fun to watch this grow in the future," Raatz said.

The winning restaurant was Wagner's Village Inn in Oldenburg and the homefryer team was Shane Schoettelkotte and Justin Ratz of Brookville. 

Other restaurants involved included the Laurel Hotel, Brau Haus, Pioneer Restaurant, EL Reparo Mexican Restaurant, Hav-A-Bite, St. Leon Tavern, J's Dairy Inn, Dairy Cottage, Liberty Bell, Brookville VFW and Brookville American Legion.

The event also featured live music and kids activities and organizers say this will become an annual event. A date for 2023 will be announced by the end of the calendar year. 

The inaugural Fried Chicken Festival & Fry Off took place on the courthouse square Saturday afternoon in Brookville.

The festival was an opportunity for Southeastern Indiana restaurants and homefryers to put their fried chicken recipes to the test. 

Each participant was provided three whole chickens from Brookville Main Street to be fried and then submitted by a panel of judges.

State Senator Jeff Raatz served as one of the judges.

"We got to taste 17 different chicken recipes and they were all very good. It was a beautiful event and you got to hand it to the folks in Brookville to create an event like this and it will be fun to watch this grow in the future," Raatz said.

The winning restaurant was Wagner's Village Inn in Oldenburg and the homefryer team was Shane Schoettelkotte and Justin Ratz of Brookville. 

Other restaurants involved included the Laurel Hotel, Brau Haus, Pioneer Restaurant, EL Reparo Mexican Restaurant, Hav-A-Bite, St. Leon Tavern, J's Dairy Inn, Dairy Cottage, Liberty Bell, Brookville VFW and Brookville American Legion.

The event also featured live music and kids activities and organizers say this will become an annual event. A date for 2023 will be announced by the end of the calendar year. 

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