Florida Keys Seafood Festival
The 8th Annual Florida Keys Seafood Festival was held on Saturday, January 19, 2013, from 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., at Bayview Park (corner of Truman Avenue & Jose Marti Drive) in Key West. Parking info: $5 per car at Horace O'Bryant Middle School parking lot, 1105 Leon Street, adjacent to Bayview Park.
The 2013 Festival included the following:
On the Menu - Fried Fish, Grilled Spiny Lobster, Stone Crab Claws, Pick 'n Peel Key West Pink Shrimp, Smoked Fish Dip with crackers, Fried Clam Strips, Lobster Bisque, and Conch Fritters, Conch Chowder & Conch Salad. Hot dogs and hamburgers were also for sale. Beverages sold were beer, wine, water, and soda. Desserts, such as Estella's Famous Flan, Key Lime Tarts, and soft ice cream were available for purchase.
Entertainment - Emcee Captain Marlin Scott
Live music started at 11:00 a.m. and concluded at 8:00 p.m.
11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. - Bahama Village Music Program
12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. - KeyRazy Band
2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. - Sauce Boss
5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. - The Rejects
Raffles were drawn after 2:00 p.m. between band breaks.
Children's Activities - The basketball court on Virginia Street was transformed into a children's playground, a/k/a the "Kid's Fun Zone" featuring a Bounce House, Giant Slide, and Rock Climbing, just to name a few!
For more information regarding the Florida
Keys Seafood Festival, call Vicki Gale, Event
Coordinator, at (305) 872-9026, Fax (305) 292-4415, or e-mail:
vicki@fkcfa.org
or send correspondence via U.S. mail to:
Florida Keys Commercial Fishermen's
Association
PO Box 501404
Marathon, FL 33050-1404
Website: www.fkcfa.org
The date for the 9th Annual Florida Keys Seafood Festival is set for Saturday, January 18 & Sunday, January 19, 2014.
Proceeds from FKCFA's cookbook goes toward their scholarship fund
for Florida Keys students.
To order the cookbook "Ocean Flavors and More!" call Vicki Gale at
305-872-9026 or e-mail her at vicki@fkcfa.org.
Click
here to see businesses in the Keys that have the cookbook for
sale.
"Slide Show" of the 2013 Seafood Festival
Photo Galleries
Photo Gallery of the 8th Annual Seafood Festival 2013
Photo Gallery of the 7th Annual Seafood Festival 2012
Photo Gallery of the 6th Annual Seafood Festival 2011
Photo Gallery of the 5th Annual Seafood Festival 2010
Photo Gallery of the 4th Annual Seafood Festival 2009
Photo Gallery of the 3rd Annual Seafood Festival 2008
Photo Gallery of the 2nd Annual Seafood Festiva 2007
Photo Gallery of the 1st Annual Seafood Festival 2006
2013 Sponsors
Click on a logo to go to the website.
More Sponsors:
Atlantic & Gulf Fishing Supply Co.
Blue Ocean Seafood
Dolphin Hydraulics, Inc.
Elite Sky Seafood
Gulf Manufacturing Co.
Hak Hide, LLC
Key Largo Fisheries, Inc.
Key West Marine Hardware, Inc.
Monroe County Public Works/Solid Waste
Ryan Construction Services
Suburban Propane
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 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 sold as well as soda and water.
This is a day of fun, food, music, and entertainment you do not want to miss!
