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The Florida Seafood Festival is an annual two-day public event held in Apalachicola, Florida on the first weekend of November. [1] The event is held in Battery Park, and around 25,000 people attend the festival every year. [2] [3] It is the oldest seafood festival in the state. [4]
In 1963, eight members of the Apalachicola Chamber of Commerce gathered to figure out a way to draw more visitors to the town. [4] The idea of a seafood event was brought up, drawing inspiration from a seafood festival, "Harbor Days" which had been held in Apalachichola in 1915. [4] The Florida Seafood Festival was established in 1964. [5]
The 2010 Florida Seafood Festival Oyster Shucking Champion Mike Martin won the 2010 National Oyster Shucking Championship. [4] In 2012 an estimated 30,000 people attended the event. [4] The festival celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2013. [4]
There was no Florida Seafood Festival in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [6] The event returned in 2021. [2]
In 2022, Hurricane Ian caused the carnival ride provider to cancel. [7]
Each year the festival features a parade (which has been held on the same route since its 1964 inception), [4] carnival, blue crab races, oyster eating and shucking contests. [1] [8] The festival also offers a 5 kilometres (3.107 mi) road race, a country music concert, arts and craft booths, and plenty of fresh local seafood. [8] [9] The local seafood is prepared by local non-profit groups.
On the Friday night of the festival, the King Restyo Ball is held to crown the king and queen of the festival. [4]
In 2016, the festival was named as one of "America's 15 Best Small-Town Festivals" by Fodor's Travel Guide. [10] That same year, it was named one of "8 Itinerary-Inspiring Seafood Festivals" by Leisure Group Travel. [11]
Apalachicola is a city and the county seat of Franklin County, Florida, United States, on the shore of Apalachicola Bay, an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico. The population was 2,231 at the 2010 census.
Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but not all oysters, are in the superfamily Ostreoidea.
Bluffton is a town in southern Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. The population as of the 2020 census was 27,716, an increase of over 120% since 2010, making it one of the fastest growing municipalities in South Carolina. Bluffton is the fifth-most populous municipality in South Carolina by land area. It is primarily located around U.S. Route 278, between Hilton Head Island and Interstate 95. The Lowcountry town's original one square mile area, now known as Old Town, is situated on a bluff along the May River. Bluffton is a primary town within the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Urbanna is a town in Middlesex County, Virginia, United States. Urbanna means “City of Anne” and was named in honor of England's Queen Anne. The population was 476 at the 2010 census.
St. George Island is an island and Census-designated place (CDP) off the Florida Panhandle in the northern Gulf of Mexico. It is in Franklin County, Florida, United States.
Dan & Louis Oyster Bar is a seafood restaurant in Portland, Oregon described by Fodor's as a "Portland landmark". As its name implies, it specializes in oysters — from Yaquina Bay and beyond — served raw and in an oyster stew the restaurant has been known for over 100 years.
The Galway International Oyster Festival is a food festival held annually in Galway on the west coast of Ireland on the last weekend of September, the first month of the oyster season. Inaugurated in 1954, it was the brainchild of the Great Southern Hotel manager, Brian Collins. In 2000 was described by the Sunday Times as "one of the 12 greatest shows on earth" and was listed in the 1987 AA Travel Guide as one of Europe's Seven Best Festivals.
Fiesta San Antonio is an annual festival held in April in San Antonio, Texas, and is the city's signature event since 1891. The festival, also known as the Battle of Flowers, commemorates of the Battle of the Alamo, which took place in San Antonio, and the Battle of San Jacinto, which led to Texas' independence from Mexico in April 1836.
An oyster festival is a food festival centered on the oyster. There are a number of oyster festivals worldwide, including the following:
Applefest is a yearly village-wide food, entertainment and crafts fair, taking place in several towns in Canada, the United States and England.
Milford Oyster Festival, sometimes shortened to "Oysterfest," is an annual cultural festival held on the third Saturday of August throughout the city of Milford, Connecticut. As a major tourist attraction, billed as the largest one-day festival in the New England region and listed among the top 10 annual events in Connecticut, the Oyster Festival draws over 50,000 attendees each year. It is planned by the non-profit organization Annual Milford Oyster Festival, inc. (AMOF), largely run by volunteers.
Tomales Bay Oyster Company is an oyster farm in Marshall, California in the United States. It is located on California State Route 1 and is the oldest continuously run oyster farm in California.
The Parish was a Cajun, Louisiana Creole, and seafood restaurant in Portland, Oregon's Pearl District, in the United States. It was opened by Tobias Hogan and Ethan Powell in 2012, and became known for its oysters. In 2015, the restaurant was split in half, and one side of the space began serving brunch, lunch, and happy hour as the Palmetto Cafe. The Palmetto was converted into a private event space and pop-up restaurant in February 2016, and The Parish closed abruptly in September of that year.
Ray's Boathouse is a restaurant in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, United States, located on Shilshole Bay along the Puget Sound shoreline. It is noted for its seafood and views of Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains, and has been listed as one of the city's top restaurants alongside The Herbfarm.
Bijou Cafe was a restaurant in Portland, Oregon's Old Town Chinatown, in the United States. The restaurant closed in 2020.
La Palapa is a restaurant in Puerto Vallarta, in the Mexican state of Jalisco.
Flying Fish Company is a sustainable seafood company which operates a fish market, restaurant, and food cart in Portland, Oregon.
Hank's Oyster Bar is a chain of oyster bars in Washington, D.C., and Virginia in the United States.
Coastal Kitchen is a restaurant on Seattle's Capitol Hill, in the U.S. state of Washington.
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