Taste of Smyrna canceled due to restaurant staffing shortages

College football party planned for Saturday
This year's Taste of Smyrna at the Smyrna Market Village was cancelled. (Courtesy of Smyrna)

This year's Taste of Smyrna at the Smyrna Market Village was cancelled. (Courtesy of Smyrna)

Low staffing levels at local restaurants forced organizers to call off this year’s Taste of Smyrna.

The annual food festival, which brought together a buffet of city eateries, was scheduled to take place Saturday at the Village Green and Smyrna Market Village in downtown Smyrna.

But several local vendors were too short-staffed to participate in this year’s event, which has been postponed to Sept. 17, 2022, according to city officials.

“It’s just across-the-board labor shortages in the restaurant industry,” Smyrna Mayor Derek Norton said. “It’s tough enough to keep their businesses open, let alone take it on the road and do a festival.”

Instead, the city will host a college football party from 3-10 p.m. Saturday at the Smyrna Market Village, 2840 Atlanta Road SE.

The shindig will feature a free concert by the Boogie Down Band, a cover band that performs music from the 1960s through today.

Staffing shortages also forced Taste of Marietta event planners to postpone that city’s food festival last week. Officials announced Sept. 7 that the festival on the Marietta Square was being rescheduled. The fest, originally slated to take place Oct. 24, was pushed back to April 24.