The weather was perfect on Saturday for the return of the Uncle Fletch Hamburger Festival and the square in Athens was packed to enjoy it.

It was a tough competition between 11 hamburger cookoff teams that entered to win the title of Best Burger. The winning hamburger for the cookoff competition was Chef Justin Fincke, second place winner was Detour food truck and third place was Trinity Valley Community College.

Weinstein Law offered to donate $1,000 to the best burger from a Volunteer Fire Department and that went to North 19. This amazing group decided to split the winnings with their burger competitor, the Trinidad Volunteer Fire Department. At which time, Jeff Weinstein then offered $1,000 to both departments.

Celebrity Tasting Judges were Nate Richards, Councilwoman SyTanna Freeman, and John Rodriguez, who were blindfolded and asked to sample four different burgers while guessing what restaurant they came from. Not a single guess was correct, but it was fun for everyone to watch them all guess different places. The burgers came from WaWa’s, Twisted Root, Tilo’s, and Bensons.

The Hamburger Eating Competition had five competitors who all rushed to compete for the quickest time to eat three double McDonald’s cheeseburgers, which was done in 6 minutes 12 seconds.

The Mooing Contest was a hoot for everyone to listen to as competitors of all ages tried to imitate the famous sound. The younger division was won by Olivia Smith and the adult division was won by Betty, an Athens visitor from California.

Besides the competitions, festival goers enjoyed lots of food, live music from Straight Tequila Nights, performances by TVCC Cheer, Band, and Cardettes, and were even able to visit with Uncle Fletch’s cousin, Harvey Allison.