Get saucey this weekend at TWO festivals! Warm up your tastebuds with as many BBQ sauces and grub as you can handle in 3 hours at the 2nd Annual Gettin’ Sauced Festival on Saturday from 3-6 pm, put on by Brad and Drew of Man Up Texas BBQ, with over 10 local-ish BBQ vendors and over 50 nationwide BBQ sauce contestants! There will be music, door prizes, and it’s family friendly! Since it’s at Independence Brewing Co., it will be hot outside and in the warehouse, so make sure to hydrate between bites and sips. Parking info and you can purchase your tasting wristband in advance for $8, or at the door for $10. But, admission is free if you just want to walk around, hear some tunes, and grab some grub. Grab the fam or some buddies, put on your boots, and go get sauced! I bet you’ll walk away with a new BBQ sauce!

*Note, my BBQ sauce Rebeccammendation doesn’t seem to be listed: Austin’s Own Border Edition (green label). If you happen to see it there or I missed it on the list, please correct me. If not, trust me, and buy a bottle at HEB, Central Market, Whole Foods, Walmart, Costco, Sprouts, Randall’s and Sun Harvest. Can you tell it’s a winner?

And after you get sauced on Saturday, cleanse that palette and rally to start tasting again on Sunday…this time with HOT SAUCE! The Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival (this is the 21st festival!) is my favorite Austin festival, next to SXSW, because me and spicy things get along like chips & salsa. You may find my first experience entertaining (sidenote, I can’t believe I’ve been blogging for three hot sauce festivals!), where I found my favorite local bottled salsa and local hot sauce shop extraordinaire. Last year, I didn’t quite make it to writing about the festival because I ate so much hot sauce, my body was not happy with me. So, pace yourself, drink lots of water between tastes, and I would not recommend trying the capsaicin concentrate on a toothpick. Living on the edge is one thing, going home afterwards to climb into bed is another! This year’s festival is at Waterloo park from 11-5:30, and entry is 3 cans of non-parishable food or a donation to the Capital Area Food Bank so you can help our community and get a good kick all at the same time!

Here’s more info on both festivals from Addie of the Statesman‘s Relish Austin. Start hydrating and cleansing your tastebuds now, because this weekend, we’ll be gettin’ sauced and gettin’ HOT!