Southerners know how to stretch a meal.
While in Louisiana we may use rice to make a meal go farther and in Corinth, Mississippi they add potato flakes and flour to their ground meat to form the unique “slugburger.” The name may not sound appetizing, or win a place on “Master Chef,” but these burgers have become a sensation in the northeast Mississippi town. It all began in 1917 when Corinthian John Weeks sold these flour and potato-enhanced burgers from a cart for only a nickel. The five-cent piece was considered a “slug” back then and the name took hold.
This month, the small town known for its Civil War history celebrates its flour and potato burger with the annual Slugburger Festival.
Get Festive
The annual Slugburger Festival takes place July 9-11 in Corinth and includes live music, a carnival, Magnolia Car Club’s Cruise-In Car Show, Miss Slugburger Pageant and Slug-Idol, a singing competition featuring local talent. Naturally, slugburgers will be served from various vendors; Corinth sells about 4,000 slugburgers during festival weekend, impressive considering the city only has a population of 14,500 people. Trip Advisor named the festival as one of America’s “Wackiest Summer Events.”
Dine
Enjoy a slugburger at the festival or choose one from popular spots like the Slugburger Café, White Trolley Cafe and Borroum’s Drug Store, the oldest drugstore in Mississippi. These dining establishments sell them year-round so don’t worry if you visit during non-festival weeks. Today’s slugburger ingredients may include pork or beef for the patty with added soy, potato flakes and flour that’s deep-fried and topped with mustard, dill pickles and onions on a small bun.
Stay
Corinth offers several fascinating accommodations in addition to chain motels located just outside of town on the major highways. Sleep inside a former church in the elegant Sanctuary, visit Civil War history at the Generals’ Quarters Boutique Hotel or enjoy group accommodations at the Carriage House that sleeps eight and includes a gourmet kitchen. For something truly unique and circular, owners converted a silo into accommodations known as The Farmhouse.
Civil War History
Corinth served as a major railroad crossroads since before the Civil War, but became a vital transportation hub for the Confederates and a target for the Union Army. Learn about the battles fought here at the Corinth Civil War Interpretive Center and visit the crossroads and depot in town. Don’t miss the unique Corinth Contraband Camp which housed formerly enslaved people during the Union occupation and travel over to nearby Tennessee to view Shiloh National Military Park, where a decisive battle happened in April 1862 with New Orleans Confederate Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard.
Don’t Miss
One of the town’s best attractions (and it’s free!) is the downtown Corinth Coca-Cola Museum, created by the family that has owned the Corinth bottling works for more than 100 years. Inside visitors will find hundreds of Coke memorabilia and as well as an old soda fountain that serves up ice cold Coca-Cola. The museum hosts a popular Corinth Coca-Cola Classic 10k Run every spring, the largest consecutively run 10k foot race in Mississippi. Running Times magazine called the Coca-Cola Classic “One of the Great 100 Short Races.”
