Town of 450 expecting around 20,000 for annual RC-MoonPie Festival

The RC-MoonPie Festival started in 1994 to bring more foot traffic into Bell Buckle, Tennessee.

Residents love the exposure, but they don’t want to bite off more than they can chew.

“It’s a place that time forgot,” said Mayor Jenny Hunt, and the folks in the small Bedford County town aim to keep it that way.

“We are the way we have always been and we fight to stay that way,” the mayor added.

In its heyday, Bell Buckle was a major stockyard along the Nashville-Chattanooga railroad, but prosperity went the way of the iron horse.

The mid-1970s saw a near ghost town transformed into a charming little one, full of restored Victorian homes, antique stores, arts and crafts, and great food.

“We have the artists, we have the intellectuals, and the tweedie professors, and we have the farmers and we have the entrepreneurs, and all of it together just makes something that was to me irresistible,” said resident Tori Taff.

The town of 450 swells to 20,000 each year on the third Saturday of June when RC Cola and MoonPie come together for the festival.

“When I was a kid, I’d get my moon pie, head over to the cooler, and get my RC. I thought that’s how it came and that’s how you gotta eat it. That’s what makes it good,” said Annie Rooney.

What makes it even better is the two iconic southern treats have made Bell Buckle a destination. The Southeast Tourism Society named the RC/MoonPie Festival one of the top 20 events.

The star of the festival is the world’s biggest MoonPie. It weighs 50 pounds and has over 45,000 calories.

Courtesy of WKRN’s News 2