For the past four years, the hubs and I have booked an Airbnb or hotel MONTHS in advance (due to every room in town getting booked pretty quickly) for Country Music Association fest in Nashville.
This music festival has many aspects. If you first google it, you can view tickets for hundreds of dollars. But do not worry, that is only for the nightly concerts in Nissan stadium. We have never actually purchased these, nor anything else for this fest.
During the daytime, there are literally hundreds of free concerts, meet and greets, interviews, and more. With all that is going on, we have to pick and choose which concerts to see, as many occur at once at different stages, and we never run out of things to see and do. By the end of the day, we are too worn out to go to the big concert at Nissan Stadium even if we wanted to.
Each year, there are always free samples handed out from dozens of companies. From Gildan underwear and socks, to many different brands of koozies and sunglasses, to lots of different foods and drinks, you know I have a great time with the freebies!
So, this blog post is dedicated to all of the free samples of foods and drinks. Here goes!
Spam!
I know this sounds gross, but the Spam truck with its varying samples was my favorite freebie! There were options such as Spam fries, Spam breakfast burrito, Spam sushi, and more. In the past, I have tried them all, but I stuck to my favorites this year:
Spam Fries
These shoestring fried Spam fries are a little too salty, but delicious. Very “spam-y”, but asking for a side sauce helps.
Spam Slider
Oooh wee! These were really good. Too good. I ate too many. On a soft sweet roll, a slice of seared Spam came with a little ketchup and horseradish. Delicious! I am not playing, I’ll make this at home…better than a fried bologna sandwich!
Skippy PB Bites
In multiple locations around CMA fest, there were Skippy fridge carts with people handing out a couple bags of these sweet babies to everyone who passed by. In the heat, these chilled, creamy peanut butter bites were the perfect pick-me-up!
Colman’s Spicy Mustard
This little mustard food truck gave small hard pretzels drizzled with Colman’s spicy mustard. This mustard is delicious! It tastes like it is mixed with horseradish, which is my favorite type of heat. I just bought some at Kroger yesterday. The samples worked, I guess!
Izze Fusion Drinks
There were three flavors to choose from, we ended up trying them all, at this Izze cart: lemon lime, strawberry melon, and orange mango. These were very freshing, as they were cold, slightly carbonated, and tasty. My favorite was the orange mango.
Pepsi 1983- Four Flavors
I am NOT a Pepsi fan. However, the new 1983 brands are a definite upgrade from the regular Pepsi we are all used to. The Original Cola was my favorite, and yes, it was very tasty. It tastes more like a Coca-Cola than the original Pepsi.
The Ginger Cola was very similar to a ginger beer, and would be perfect in a moscow mule.
The Black Currant Cola wasn’t bad, but it didn’t fit my fancy. It had a little bit of a berry taste to it.
The Citrus Cola was my least favorite. It didn’t taste like a Pepsi nor a citrus cola.
My Favorite Non-Food Item: Jergen’s Shower Moisturizers
I got two, out of three options, for Jergens Wet Skin Moisturizers. One is the Glow, which gives a natural glow, and the other is the coconut, made with real coconut oil. I like them both very much so far, though the smell of the coconut is my favorite.
Inside FanFair X
The one purchse we make on our trips to CMA fest are four days worth of FanFair X tickets, at $25 each. FanFair X is worth the price because it is a large building with AIR CONDITIONING, concerts, meet and greets, interviews, shopping, food options, and more samples! Here are the samples from FanFair X:
Skittles, Plain M&Ms, and Peanut M&Ms
After writing a “thank you” note to our troops, you were given these three samples. I may have written more than one.
Darius Rucker Backstage Whiskey
Yes, there were real whiskey samples (tiny, but still) being given to anyone who showed their i.d. The brand was Darius Rucker’s Backstage Whiskey. I am not a whiskey fan, but I guess it was smoothe? All I know was it was free, so I got one of these each day.
Sarah Evans’ ONEHOPE Wine and Champagne
Sarah Evans collaborated with ONEHOPE to create a new wine and champagne line that helps fund charity organizations. We only tried the brut champagne, 4 times to be exact, because it was too good to veer off path and try the other sample option, the cabernet sauvignon.
Blake Shelton’s Smithwork’s American Made Vodka
Smithwork’s Vodka, make and bottled in Forth Smith, AR, had a cute set up. Within a small area, there was a white picket fence, a set up for free photos in front of a “front porch” and free samples of vodka! The first day we tried this, it was mixed with lemonade and no vodka could be tasted. (I have had Smithworks vodka on the rocks, and trust me, if there was any real amount of this alcohol in lemonade, you would taste it…it is not my favorite vodka.)
The second day we tried this was Sunday, so they went with a brunch theme and we had bloody mary’s. You could even add hot sauce or Worcestershire sauce! These were very tasty as well, and very weak.
We did take advantage of the free photo booth here, where they printed your photos and then also emailed them to you.
Overall
Once we got home, we emptied out Drew’s backpack that he kept all of our samples we were saving and found we brought a lot home. Those pb bites are currently in the fridge, like they were in Nashville.
The freebies at CMA fest change each year, but are always very satisfying. In the past, I have also tried a slice of Hunt Brother’s pepperoni pizza, blue bell ice cream, yoplait yogurt, and Monster drinks.
Keep ’em coming, CMA fest, we love our freebies!