In the rising heat of Saturday afternoon, two things fill the air down at Ross's Landing: Don Felder's wailing guitar sound check and the aroma of cooking food.
In a few hours, concession vendors will be feeding hungry and thirsty Riverbend Festival crowds, offering them a wide variety of Americana, Asian and Italian fare. Corn dogs and hot dogs? Check. Nachos and tacos? Absolutely. Noodles and pizza? Certainly. Funnel cakes? Mandatory.
And, of course, just about every kind of deep-fried or barbecued food. Did someone say chicken on a stick?
Howard Hale of Chattanooga's very own Fun Time Foods says he's glad to continue the festival's chicken on a stick tradition.
"It's always been a real popular item down here at Riverbend," Hale says while making last-minute checks to his concession kitchen, just a stone's throw from the Bud Light stage. "It's kind of gotten us recognition all over the South by being the chicken on the stick at Riverbend."
Fun Time Foods has been a Riverbend regular for about seven years, Hale said. It's not just all business -it's family and good times, he added.
"We'll have friends and family and customers we've got to know over the years that will come back and see us and hang out with us," Hale said. "So it's cool for us to kind of catch up with everybody we haven't seen since this time last year. It's a big reunion. I don't see myself anywhere else in the second week of June."
Fun Time Foods is among two dozen vendors who booked Riverbend's 40 concession slots for 2017, according to festival records. About half the vendors come from Chattanooga and North Georgia.
Karen Shostak, the festival's director of sales, raves about each vendor - among them Rita's Italian Ice, Big Fat Philly Sandwich Shop and Fun Time Foods - as she points them out during a golf cart tour of the riverfront, which buzzes with final preparations for the evening.
"I have a simple rule: nobody eats it if I won't let my kids eat it," Shostak said.
She also heaps praise on out-of-town newcomers Fe-Linda Cafe Catering of Apopka, Fla., and Holy Smokin BBQ of Knoxville.
The festival's other signature staple is suds, with or without a kick. Beer sales are handled through nonprofit partners to raise money for their causes. They go through "intense" alcoholic beverage training, Shostak said.
"Almost 6 percent of every beer [sale] goes to a charity in Chattanooga," she said, which has brought $300,000 back into the city since she started the nonprofit beer seller program 10 years ago.
Church groups typically handle the sale of sodas and other non-alcoholic beverages, Shostak said.
Driving by a utility golf cart piled high with bagged ice, Shostak explained the festival will go through 25,000 pounds of ice - more than 12 tons - over its eight days. She credits efficient planning and "amazing" support from Tennessee Valley Ice to ensure all the concession coolers are stocked each day.
Shostak gives kudos to the Hamilton County Health Department for smooth sailing when it comes to concession food safety.
Lowe Wilkins, program manager of the department's environmental health services, talked about its role in a phone interview Friday.
The seven food inspectors who visit Riverbend concession sites throughout the day have a supportive mission and a good working relationship with festival organizers and vendors, Wilkins said.
Much of it comes down to prevention and planning, such as making sure refrigeration units have electricity and coolers have ice, he said.
"It's not like a restaurant inspection where we come back," Wilkins said. "If we have a concern about the food preparation process, we stop it immediately and the vendor takes care of it then."
Contact staff writer Paul Leach at 423-757-6481 or pleach@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @pleach_tfp.