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\u201cI Like It Hot!\u201d Festival Credit: “I Like It Hot!” Festival<\/p>\n\u201cI Like It Hot!\u201d Festival Credit: “I Like It Hot!” Festival<\/p>\n
September will be hotter than normal, because spice heads and pepper connoisseurs can feel the burn at the I Like it Hot! Festival<\/a> in Pinellas Park.\u00a0<\/p>\n Florida\u2019s longest-running hot sauce festival returns for its 26th year bringing a sizable selection of hot sauces, seasonings, salsas, specialty products and unique retail vendors.\u00a0<\/p>\n The scorching hot sauce festival will move this year from the Largo Event Center to the England Brothers Park located at 5010 Dave McKay Way in Pinellas Park.<\/p>\n The fiery weekend starts Saturday, Sept. 12, and Sunday, Sept. 13, at\u00a0 from 10 am to 4 pm. The event has no cover and also free parking. The event is family and pet friendly.<\/p>\n I Like it Hot! is one of the longest-running festivals in the United States, spanning 26 years. This year will include vendor hot sauce competitions, wing-eating contests, a pepper-eating challenge, a barbecue competition and a salsa competition.<\/p>\n The festival\u2019s fan favorite extreme Lolli Lick-A-Thon contest returns for spicy food lovers to test their Scoville threshold as they lick the hottest lolly pop in the world.<\/p>\n Along with the spicy accouterments \u2014 and if it\u2019s too spicy to handle \u2014 there will be an assortment of food trucks, gourmet foods, snacks and live entertainment for everyone to enjoy.\u00a0<\/p>\n Pitch in to help make the Tampa Bay Journalism Project a success.<\/a><\/p>\n Subscribe to Creative Loafing newsletters.<\/a><\/p>\n Follow us:\u00a0Google News<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0NewsBreak<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Reddit<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Instagram<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Facebook\u00a0<\/a>|\u00a0BlueSky<\/a><\/p>\n This article appears in July 23 \u2013 29, 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n \t