Jul 22, 2026 | 12:22 pm
After a short stall, the heat is back on for Hot Luck, Austin’s live fire cooking and music festival. A new preliminary lineup reveals who will cook on October 16 and 17, with more information to come about the music lineup.
Hot Luck started as a collaboration between pitmaster Aaron Franklin, Guerilla Suit creative agency principal James Moody, and co-founder of Feast Portland Mike Thelin. In 2026, as Memorial Day weekend crept up — the time the festival would usually be held — festival organizers had still not made an announcement about dates or a lineup. Finally, a few days before the holiday, organizers posted a save-the-date on social media, this time for October. In mid-June, People Inc. announced that it acquired the festival.
That makes this the first Hot Luck lineup under new management. Franklin and Moody remain on the team, so many of the relationships that gave Hot Luck its flavor appear to have been preserved. And this lineup wants for nothing in terms of local, regional, and even national acclaim…