Start with your hotel amenities. Which hotel are you staying? The higher end ones usually have a nice restaurant on site. Hot breakfasts, etc. Plenty of restaurants in the area. The food at the convention center is decent. You will not starve. Don't expect your stay etc to be budget friendly. IMHO. traveling to a downtown area never is; enjoy your stay. Festival is HUGE! Can be overwhelming too. Pace yourself and take notes on the booth numbers that you want to revisit. I went to Festival once. Once was enough. But i am not that far from Paducah! Relatively speaking.
Sandy