After a long hiatus, the Uncle Fletch Hamburger Festival will return to the courthouse square in Athens from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sept. 20.

Of course, there will be the traditional hamburger cook-off to crown the best burger chef around, but there will also be a burger eating contest, a dine ’n’ dash, bobbing for burgers and a mooing contest.

In addition, the stage will be set up for music with Kadie Lynn opening the festival and Will Burgin from Guitar’s Etc. closing the day with a songwriter’s competition.

“My family and I are so excited that the home of the hamburger is going to host an amazing Uncle Fletch Hamburger Festival,” said the event’s main sponsor, Jeff Weinstein, of Weinstein Law.

Other major sponsors include Sonic, Whataburger, Mooyah Burger, McDonald’s, Trinity Valley Electric Cooperative and Southside Bank.

All the fun is planned to celebrate Athens as the home of the hamburger, the invention of Fletcher “Uncle Fletch” Davis.

According to research by former Athens Review Editor Toni Garrard, Davis sold the then-unnamed sandwich in his café in Athens as early as the late 1880s. There is an eyewitness account of Davis selling hamburgers at the World’s Fair in St. Louis in 1904.

From potter to legend, Uncle Fletch was a Texan who invented America’s most iconic meal. So come to Athens on Sept. 20 and be a part of what’s cooking at this year’s Uncle Fletch Festival.