Prince George’s County Maryland Wine & Food Festival
A theme park gate in Mitchellville opened onto a different kind of day in September 2013, when the county’s restaurants and chefs set up inside Six Flags America for a food and wine celebration that carried a name of its own. The sheet title above is the form the county list uses, but no layer read prints it exactly. The event as published was the Taste Prince George’s Food & Wine Festival. Two dated editions survive in the layers read, one in 2013 and one in 2016, and both are particularised enough to describe with confidence. No edition after 2016 is documented in the layers read.
About
The Taste Prince George’s Food & Wine Festival was a county restaurant showcase held at Six Flags America in Mitchellville, Maryland. Mitchellville is not the Prince George’s County seat; Upper Marlboro holds that role, according to a state archives reference layer. The first documented edition took place on Saturday 7 September 2013, from noon to seven in the evening, and a trade-press release layer records it. The second documented edition took place on Saturday 13 August 2016, from noon to six in the evening, billed the fourth annual, and a press-release layer and a city-magazine layer agree on it. The fourth annual billing in 2016 sits comfortably beside a first edition in 2013, but no founding year is derived from billing arithmetic here, and no founding account appears in the layers read beyond the 2013 first documented edition.
The layers read name no organiser for the event. It was hosted by the county council member for the district, and the sponsors named in the layers include Six Flags America, the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, the Prince George’s Chamber of Commerce and the Restaurant Association of Maryland. The 2013 edition presented the county’s best restaurants and chefs, with live entertainment, cooking demonstrations and competitive eating challenges. The 2016 edition grew the restaurant count past thirty, with celebrity judges, culinary demonstrations, wine and live music. Admission was ticketed in both editions, at twenty-five dollars in advance in 2013, including park access, festival entry and complimentary parking, and thirty-eight dollars in 2016.
Quick Facts
| Item | Detail |
| Sheet title | Prince George’s County Maryland Wine & Food Festival |
| Published name | Taste Prince George’s Food & Wine Festival |
| Host town | Mitchellville, Maryland |
| Venue | Six Flags America |
| County seat | Upper Marlboro |
| First documented edition | Saturday 7 September 2013, noon to seven in the evening |
| Latest documented edition | Saturday 13 August 2016, noon to six in the evening |
| Admission | Ticketed; twenty-five dollars in advance in 2013; thirty-eight dollars in 2016 |
| Host | The county council member for the district |
| Later record | No edition after 2016 documented in the layers read |
History
The record of this festival begins, so far as the layers read can show, on Saturday 7 September 2013. A trade-press release layer announces the Taste Prince George’s Food & Wine Festival at Six Flags America, running from noon to seven in the evening, and describes a day built around the county’s best restaurants and chefs. Live entertainment, cooking demonstrations and competitive eating challenges filled out the programme, and the advance ticket of twenty-five dollars bundled park access, festival entry and complimentary parking into a single price. Nothing in the layers read describes a launch ceremony, a founding committee or a first-year story behind that 2013 edition, so the history here is a history of documented editions rather than of origins.
Three years later, the record picks the festival up again. On Saturday 13 August 2016, the event returned to Six Flags America from noon to six in the evening, billed the fourth annual, and a press-release layer and a city-magazine layer agree on the date, the hours and the billing. The fourth annual billing is consistent with a first edition in 2013, but the arithmetic is not treated here as a founding year, and no edition between 2013 and 2016 is dated in the layers read. What the 2016 layers do record is growth: more than thirty restaurants took part, celebrity judges tasted the cooking, culinary demonstrations ran through the afternoon, and wine and live music rounded out the day. Admission in 2016 was thirty-eight dollars.
For a useful comparison, see the Prince George’s County Maryland Greenbelt Blues Festival for another county festival.
After 2016, the layers read go quiet. No credible layer documents a later edition, and no announcement, listing or release in the layers read carries the festival past that August afternoon. The two editions that do survive give the event a clear shape all the same: a late-summer restaurant showcase inside a theme park, ticketed, sponsored by county institutions, and hosted by the district’s council member.
What to Expect
A visitor to the 2013 edition would have found the county’s restaurants and chefs at the centre of the day. The trade-press release layer describes the county’s best restaurants and chefs presenting their cooking, with live entertainment running alongside and cooking demonstrations giving the afternoon a working, instructional edge. Competitive eating challenges added a rowdier note to the programme, and the whole event ran from noon to seven in the evening inside Six Flags America, so the rides and the theme park setting framed the food rather than standing apart from it. The advance ticket covered park access as well as festival entry and complimentary parking.
The 2016 edition kept that shape and widened it. More than thirty restaurants took part, according to the layers read, and celebrity judges tasted the entries, which gave the cooking a competitive frame that the 2013 eating challenges had only hinted at. Culinary demonstrations returned, wine was poured, and live music played through the afternoon. The hours were a little shorter, noon to six in the evening, and the ticket price was thirty-eight dollars. Nothing in the layers read names a headlining performer or a winning restaurant for either edition, so those details are not supplied here.
Planning Your Visit
Mitchellville sits in Prince George’s County, Maryland, and Six Flags America is its landmark property, so a visit to this festival was always a visit to the theme park as well. The two documented editions were both Saturday afternoons, one in early September and one in mid-August, and both ran from noon into the early evening. A visitor planning around either edition would have needed a ticket in advance to get the 2013 price of twenty-five dollars, which bundled park access, festival entry and complimentary parking; the 2016 price of thirty-eight dollars is recorded without a note on what it bundled, so no such claim is made for that year.
The venue itself shaped the day. Six Flags America is a full theme park, so the festival’s food stalls, demonstrations and music sat among rides and park crowds, and a visitor could move between the festival and the park without leaving the property. Since no edition after 2016 is documented in the layers read, there is no current date to plan around, and any future visit would depend on a new announcement that the layers read do not contain.
A Sample Itinerary
A day built on the 2016 edition might have begun at noon, when the gates and the festival opened together, with a first pass through the restaurant stalls to see what more than thirty kitchens had brought. The middle of the afternoon belonged to the demonstrations and the judges, so a visitor could watch a chef work, taste the results, and then move on to the wine pours while live music played. A late-afternoon turn through the park rides would have used the park access that the ticket covered, and the six o’clock close left the evening free. In either year, the sensible order was food first, demonstrations second, and the park itself last, because the festival was the reason for the visit and the rides were the bonus the ticket happened to include.
How It Compares
The closest confusion to guard against is the Food & Wine Festival at National Harbor, which held its inaugural edition on 17 and 18 May 2008. That event belongs to a waterfront development in a different part of the county, and its May dating and harbour setting mark it out from a theme park festival in Mitchellville. The two events share a broad theme, food and wine, and little else, and the National Harbor festival does not rescue or replace this sheet title.
A second event to keep apart is the “Taste of Prince George’s County” spirits-tasting event in Upper Marlboro in October 2026, which is a tasting event in the county seat rather than a restaurant festival in a theme park. Its name is close enough to invite a mix-up, but the layers read treat it as a separate event, and this article does the same.
Within its own record, the festival changed between its two documented editions in ways worth noting. The 2013 edition ran in early September, from noon to seven, with an advance ticket of twenty-five dollars that bundled park access, festival entry and complimentary parking. The 2016 edition ran in mid-August, from noon to six, at thirty-eight dollars, with more than thirty restaurants and celebrity judges. The venue and the sponsor group stayed the same.
Checklist
- Look for the published name, Taste Prince George’s Food & Wine Festival, since the sheet title is never printed exactly.
- Remember the venue is Six Flags America in Mitchellville, not the county seat of Upper Marlboro.
- Note the two documented editions: Saturday 7 September 2013 and Saturday 13 August 2016.
- Treat the 2013 ticket of twenty-five dollars and the 2016 ticket of thirty-eight dollars as fenced to their years.
- Do not merge this event with the Food & Wine Festival at National Harbor.
- Do not merge this event with the “Taste of Prince George’s County” spirits-tasting event in Upper Marlboro.
- Check for a fresh listing before assuming any edition after 2016 exists.
- Bring an appetite, since restaurant cooking was the centre of both documented editions.
Beyond the Festival
Mitchellville itself is a suburban community in Prince George’s County, and Six Flags America is the property that puts it on the map for most visitors. A trip built around the festival would naturally have included the park, and the 2013 ticket made that pairing explicit by bundling park access with festival entry. Upper Marlboro, the county seat, lies a short drive away and holds the county courthouse and the older town centre, so a visitor with a second day could pair a theme park afternoon with a walk through the seat town. The county’s restaurant scene, which the festival existed to showcase, extends well beyond Mitchellville, and a longer stay could move from the festival’s restaurant stalls to the county’s dining rooms without leaving Prince George’s County at all.
Why It Matters
A county restaurant festival does a simple thing well: it puts the kitchens of a place in one location for one afternoon and lets visitors taste the range. The Taste Prince George’s Food & Wine Festival did that inside a theme park, which meant it reached an audience that had come for rides as well as for food, and the sponsor list shows county institutions backing the idea. The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, the Prince George’s Chamber of Commerce and the Restaurant Association of Maryland all had their names behind the event, which suggests a festival meant to promote the county as much as to feed its visitors. The 2016 growth past thirty restaurants and the addition of celebrity judges show an event that was finding its footing as a showcase rather than a one-off gathering. That the record then stops after 2016 is part of the story too, and this article records the gap rather than papering over it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What name should I search for when looking up this event?
Search for the published name, Taste Prince George’s Food & Wine Festival. The sheet title, Prince George’s County Maryland Wine & Food Festival, is the form the county list uses and is never printed exactly in the layers read, so a search under the sheet title alone may return nothing. The published form appears in the trade-press release layer for 2013 and in the press-release and city-magazine layers for 2016.
Was the festival really held inside a theme park?
Yes. Both documented editions took place at Six Flags America in Mitchellville, Maryland. The 2013 advance ticket bundled park access with festival entry and complimentary parking, which confirms that the festival sat inside the park property rather than beside it.
What did a ticket cover in the two documented editions?
The two editions differ, and the prices are fenced to their years. In 2013, the advance ticket cost twenty-five dollars and covered park access, festival entry and complimentary parking. In 2016, the ticket cost thirty-eight dollars, and the layers read do not state what it bundled, so no such claim is made for that year. Both editions were ticketed; neither was free to enter.
Has the festival returned since its 2016 edition?
No edition after 2016 is documented in the layers read. The 2016 edition was billed the fourth annual, which implies editions in the intervening years, but those editions are not dated in the layers read, and no later edition is recorded anywhere in the layers read.
What to Expect From the Next Prince George’s County Maryland Wine & Food Festival
How often is Prince George’s County Maryland Wine & Food Festival held?
The record shows two dated editions, in September 2013 and August 2016, with the 2016 edition billed the fourth annual. That billing implies yearly editions in between, but the layers read do not date them, and no regular cadence is documented beyond the two editions themselves.
When is the next Prince George’s County Maryland Wine & Food Festival?
No next edition is documented in the layers read. The latest dated edition is Saturday 13 August 2016, and nothing in the layers read announces a later date. Until a fresh listing appears, there is no next date to give, and this article does not invent one.
Will the dates change?
The two documented editions fell in different months, early September in 2013 and mid-August in 2016, so the date has moved before. With no later edition announced in the layers read, there is no current date to change, and any future edition would need its own announcement before a date could be given.
A restaurant festival inside a theme park is an unusual pairing, and the Taste Prince George’s Food & Wine Festival made it work twice, in 2013 and again in 2016, with the county’s restaurants and chefs at the centre of both afternoons. The record that survives is thin but particular, and it is recorded here as it stands, with its gaps left visible.
