Florida Keys Seafood Festival

The 5th Annual Florida Keys Seafood Festival is scheduled for Saturday, January 16, 2010, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., at Bayview Park in Key West.

Sponsor and Vendor applications (pdf format) are now being accepted.

The sponsor levels are as follows:

ADMIRAL - $5,000: Sponsors will receive food tickets worth $100, a vendor booth, eight t-shirts, company name and logo on all Festival literature as a principal sponsor, a banner with their company’s name displayed at the Festival, and become an Associate Member of the Florida Keys Commercial Fishermen’s Association (FKCFA).

COMMODORE - $2,500: Sponsors will receive food tickets worth $75, a vendor booth, six t-shirts, company name and logo on all Festival literature, a banner with their company’s name displayed at the Festival, and become an Associate Member of FKCFA.

CAPTAIN - $1,000: Sponsors will receive food tickets worth $50, a vendor booth, four t-shirts, company name and logo on all Festival literature, a banner with their company’s name displayed at the Festival, and become an Associate Member of FKCFA.

FIRST MATE - $500: Sponsors will receive food tickets worth $25, two t-shirts, their company name and logo on all Festival literature, and become an Associate Member of FKCFA.

DECKHAND - $250: Sponsors will receive food tickets worth $10, a t-shirt, and their company name and logo on all Festival literature.

For information regarding the Florida Keys Seafood Festival, call Vicki Gale, Event Coordinator, at (305) 872-9026, Fax (305) 292-4415, or e-mail: vickigale@bellsouth.net
or

Florida Keys Commercial Fishermen's Association

PO Box 501404

Marathon, FL 33050-1404

Web site: www.fkcfa.org

or

UF/IFAS/Monroe County Extension Services
1100 Simonton Street, #2-260
Key West, FL 33040
Phone: (305) 292-4501
Fax: (305) 292-4415
E-mail: Thomas-Dawn@MonroeCounty-FL.Gov

To see a PDF "Slide Show" Presentation for the 2009 Seafood Festival, click here.

To view the 2009 Seafood Festival Flyer, click here.

To see the Photo Gallery of the 2009 Seafood Festival, click here.

To see the Photo Gallery of the 2008 Seafood Festival, click here.

To see the Photo Gallery of the 2007 Seafood Festival, click here.

Origin and Purpose of the
Florida Keys Seafood Festival

The Seafood Festival celebrates our community by bringing families and friends together in a joyful and fun environment to sample the local catch.  This family-friendly event was created to showcase local seafood and the Keys' commercial fishing industry by providing the freshest seafood available. Each year our fishermen and women are proud to offer the community a variety of seafood at reasonable prices.

It is hoped that this festival will become an annual event that people can plan their vacations around, since it conveniently falls on a Saturday, the start of a three-day holiday weekend (Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, is always the third Monday in January).  We also hope to raise money for the Florida Keys Commercial Fishermen’s Association (FKCFA), an industry association to use in providing a sustainable future for the many local fisheries within the Florida Keys. With some of the proceeds from the festival, FKCFA sponsors scholarships for children of local fishermen from Key Largo to Key West.

The absence of a seafood festival in Key West has been obvious for many years.  However, it took the devastating hurricane season of 2005 that wiped out 75% of the fishing gear to provide the needed motivation for finally making this now successful event possible. It took the combined efforts of the FKCFA and UF/IFAS/Monroe County Extension Services to make the first festival in 2006 possible.  While the fishermen caught, cleaned, and cooked the seafood, the Extension staff organized and coordinated the logistics.

            The fishermen and their families work hard at preparing the delicious seafood dishes. Not only will we have the best prices in town, we will also have the freshest shrimp, lobster, and two kinds of crab. While most people are familiar with stone crab, we will also have a unique treat with a special food booth serving deep water golden crab.  In addition, you can enjoy conch salad, conch fritters, and conch chowder prepared with local recipes.  Let’s not forget the sweets that will be available like Flan and Key Lime Pie.  And of course libations will be available as well as soda and water.

            This is a day of fun, food, and music you do not want to miss!

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