Rabbit Festival Cook-Off Hops Into Lake Charles March 21
Lake Charles, LA [KNGT-FM]- Where are all our cooks at? Are you the best cook of wild game in Southwest Louisiana? Want to prove it? Then get your team together and enter the Iowa Rabbit Festival cook-off, which will take place at the Burton Complex on March 21st, 2026.
That's right, the Iowa Rabbit Festival is back for another year. It's one of the biggest festivals in the Southeastern United States, and one of its marquee events is the rabbit cook-off.
Here is your chance to show off your cooking skills and win not only the first-place trophy but also $500. That's right, first place is $500 in two categories, main dish and appetizer, so there is a possibility that if you cook in both categories, you could score a cool $1000.
So what do you need to do to enter? Follow this link to fill out the registration form. Once you are registered, here is the timeline of everything you need to know to get to cooking the day of the cook-off.
2026 Iowa Rabbit Festival Cook-off Schedule
Saturday – March 21st, 2026
- 7:30 am – Cook Off Teams Arrive for Check-in
- 8:30 am – Cooking begins
- 12:30 pm – First Wave of Dishes Turned In
- 2:00 pm – Winners Announced During Announcements Inside Burton Coliseum
There will also be live music during the cook-off with:
- 9:00 am to 10:00 am -- Jud & Bella
- 10:30 am to 11:30 am -- Kevin Barton
- 12:00 pm to 1:30 pm -- Mike Broussard
Then, after the cook-off, the music gets underway inside the Burton Coliseum with one heck of a lineup. Here is who is playing at this year's 2026 Iowa Rabbit Festival.
Read More: 2026 Iowa Rabbit Festival Entertainment Lineup
Don't forget they will also have food all weekend, plus carnival rides in the parking lot, along with great live music on two stages inside the Burton in Lake Charles on Friday, March 20th, and Saturday, March 21st, for the 2026 Iowa Rabbit Festival.