On September 27 of last year, outside the Malakoff Community Center, Mayor Nicole Mason-Driver handed a Dolly Parton iron skillet to the best home baker in the Cottage Kitchen cornbread category. The same baker also took second place and its $75 prize. A few feet away, Justin Daggs was celebrating his win in the corn-on-the-cob eating contest.
The person presenting the $100 first-place prize was Mike McCully. He co-owns T104 Decor, and he and his business partner Bradley Scott organize the festival. The Monitor's photo from that day shows them with Pat Isaacson, who founded it.
That's how fall festival season works around Cedar Creek Lake. The three biggest food-and-family events between now and Thanksgiving are run by a home decor shop in Malakoff, the Mabank Farmers Market and a llama campground in Tool. Each one runs on its organizer's own calendar, budget and sign-up forms. It also explains why, with the first festival three days away, most of what you can find online about the program is from last year.
A 29-Year-Old Festival That Runs on Local Business Owners
The 2026 Cornbread Festival is the 29th annual. It's set for Saturday, October 3, at the Malakoff Community Center, 503 N. Terry Street. Four years ago, The Monitor covered the 25th.
You can see who runs it from how it pays for itself. The Visit Malakoff festival page has a booth and food truck sign-up form, a link to the festival's Facebook group and a list of sponsor tiers. The top tier, printed as the "Diamond Kernal" sponsorship, costs $1,500. Vendor fees and local sponsors keep it going.
That setup has grown fast. KETK reported in September 2024 that the festival had more than 150 vendors and food trucks that year, and that it had grown 50% over the year before for the second year running. The organizers' 2024 recap called it their biggest and best-attended festival so far, with thousands of people there. The 2025 photos show local groups setting up booths too, including the Gun Barrel City Toys for Tots team, which serves children all around the Cedar Creek Lake area.
What's Confirmed for October 3, and What's Last Year's Lineup
A volunteer-scale organizer usually posts the date and the vendor form first and fills in the program later. As of September 30, the official festival page lists the date, the hours and the booth sign-up. The contest and car show section on that page is labeled as 2025 highlights.
| Confirmed for 2026 | From past years, not yet announced for 2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| Date and place | Oct. 3, Malakoff Community Center, 503 N. Terry St. | |
| Hours | 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the festival page; a second Visit Malakoff page says 10 to 4 | |
| Vendors | Crafts, home goods, home-baked food, food trucks | More than 150 vendors and food trucks in 2024 |
| Cornbread contest | Cottage Kitchen and Restaurant/Commercial categories in 2025, with a Dolly Parton skillet and $100 for first and $75 for second | |
| Other contests | Corn-on-the-cob eating contest in 2025; sweet, savory and exotic cook-off classes in 2024 | |
| Family extras | 2024 had a car show, axe throwing, a dunk tank, a scavenger hunt, bounce houses, live music, fainting goats and a library book sale |
The hours matter more than they seem to. The festival's own page and the Cedar Creek Lake event directory both list 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. If you show up near closing on the 10-to-4 schedule, you might miss the end. Check the Facebook group the morning of.
Last year's winners are a good guide to who might enter again. The festival page lists Yummy Bus of Cedar Creek as the 2025 Restaurant category winner.
Two First-Time Festivals on the Same Saturday
Seven weeks later, the same pattern shows up in two new events that both picked Saturday, November 21.
The Mabank Picklefest comes from the Mabank Farmers Market. It runs 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Mabank Pavilion on Easley Parkway. The market already knows how to run an event at that pavilion. Its 2026 schedule started with winter pop-ups there on January 10 and February 7, then an opening weekend on March 7 and "The Big One" in downtown Mabank on March 14. Picklefest takes that setup and gives it a theme. The market's website is taking vendor and sponsor applications for it now.
Things to Do at Cedar Creek Lake calls it new this year and a first-time event. It lists local vendors, food trucks, pickle tasting, pickleball and family-friendly activities. The market hasn't announced contests, prizes or named vendors yet.
Llamaland Ranch in Tool is the other host. The ranch calls itself a tent-camping spot on more than 101 acres with more than 50 llamas, at 9059 County Road 2403. The Cedar Creek Lake Area Chamber held a ribbon-cutting for it in September, but the ranch isn't new. One visitor wrote about camping there in June 2022. What's new is the festival. Here's how the ranch's events page describes it:
"Celebrate autumn at Llamaland's First Fall Festival, where cozy seasonal charm meets big family fun. Explore the pumpkin patch, get lost in the hay maze, enjoy carnival games, shop local vendors, and catch live entertainment all evening long."
The festival runs 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. Admission and parking are free. The ranch notes that food, the raffle, the vendor market, some games and some entertainment may cost extra. The same page lists a vendor market on November 21, 2026, and another on December 12.
How November 21 Lines Up
Two small organizers picking the same date could have been a conflict. The hours keep it from being one. Picklefest opens in the late morning, and Llamaland doesn't open until mid-afternoon:
- 11 a.m. Mabank Picklefest opens at the Mabank Pavilion.
- 3 p.m. Llamaland's Fall Festival opens in Tool, with the pumpkin patch, hay ride and hay maze.
- 6 p.m. Picklefest closes.
- 8 p.m. Llamaland closes after an evening of live entertainment.
That leaves a three-hour stretch when both are running, plus a morning at one and an evening at the other. Llamaland's hay maze and pumpkin patch are outdoor activities, so they're best before dark. Picklefest has plenty of time in its late-morning hours.
Everything Else on the Fall Calendar
The bigger festivals bracket a fall calendar that also has smaller events with set dates:
- October 3: Cornbread Festival in Malakoff. The Humane Society of Cedar Creek Lake is also holding its Fall Adopt-a-thon at Petsense, 1112 W. Main St. in Gun Barrel City, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
- October 6: National Night Out at the Gun Barrel City Community Center, 5 to 9 p.m.
- October 24: Gun Barrel City Haunt Fest at GBC Park, with free admission and trunk-or-treat. The listing mentions a reschedule and gives two different end times, so check before you go.
- November 7: Roots & Ranks Rumble at 300 Municipal Drive in Gun Barrel City. It pairs an Arbor Day tree giveaway with a Veterans Day double-header from the Cedar Creek Lake Roller Derby League.
- November 21: Mabank Picklefest and Llamaland's First Fall Festival.
- December 12: Llamaland's next vendor market.
For the three hosted festivals, the organizer's own page will have the final program before any roundup does. That means the Visit Malakoff festival page and its Facebook group, the Mabank Farmers Market schedule and the Llamaland Ranch events page. As of today, none of them has posted its 2026 contest lineup.
At Debbie French Real Estate Group, we keep track of the lake's calendar the same way we keep track of the market, one small organizer at a time. If you're at the cornbread tables in Malakoff on October 3 or at the hay maze in Tool on November 21 and want to talk about what your place on the lake is worth, ask us for a free home valuation and let's keep living the lake lifestyle together.
