2011 Destin Seafood Festival

by Brian Owens on Oct 4, 2011 in Gallery, Music | 0 comments

This year was my first time attending the Destin Seafood Festival, and I’ve lived in the area for 22 years. I had no idea what to expect when I arrived at the Meet and Greet on Thursday, the night prior to the opening ceremonies. This event is held so that artists, media, and sponsors all get a chance to meet each other and chat for a bit. I was one of the first there, but the room quickly began to fill. Normally, this isn’t a bad thing. However, I had absolutely no idea who anybody was…at first.

I made small talk with another photographer for a bit, and then made my way over to Woofy, the local DJ for 99 Rock radio station. He was kind enough to point me in the direction of particular V.I.P.’s, and got me started in the right direction.

Now, I’m telling you this short story for a reason. Shortly after speaking with Woofy, I was standing towards the end of the bar, just looking around and trying to decide who to approach next, when a nice young lady stepped up next to me and simply asked, “Is this the spot to grab a drink?” I had no idea who this lady was, and just told her I had no idea, but I’ve been standing here regardless. She introduced herself to me as Alissa Moreno. Still not knowing who she was, she had to go out of her way to inform me she was on the artists. Now I felt embarrassed.

After almost making a fool of myself in front of Alissa, she actually went out of her way to introduce me to every other artist in the room. She called over Bridgette Tatum and Danny Myrick and introduced each to me, let me take several photos, and just hung out with me the entire evening.

The reason I told you that is to convey to you how extremely friendly each and every artist that performed at this festival actually is. Each one came up and spoke to me throughout the night, introducing their selves and generally having a great time with everybody. This is far from what I expected. I walked in believing I was going to have to put forth a lot of effort into getting artists it acknowledge me, let alone speak to me. I was totally taken by surprise.

This year’s festival was truly amazing for me. The booths were packed with local craft artists, as well as seafood from right here in the immediate Gulf area. If none of this is your thing, there were also some typical food booths that featured the famous blooming onion, funnel cakes, fried alligator, and tons more! If even none of that sounds good, there are always the many different restaurants and eateries scattered all through-out the Harbor.

Each year this festival is put on by local companies and sponsors. The point of the festival is for everyone in the area to come out for the weekend and enjoy great food while listening to amazing artists perform over the entire weekend. This year, the festival returned to its roots by being hosted at the Harborwalk Village and having absolutely no entry fee. I really wish I could find out the total number of booths that were setup; there easily had to be over 150 individual booths up and down the harbor, stretching around ¾ of a mile.
Most festivals seem to feature one or two main stages, with artists rotating between the two over the course of the weekend. The Destin Seafood Festival took a different approach to this standard by splitting artists not just between two main stages, but also placing them inside several of the smaller venues and restaurants across the harbor. This idea came with pro’s and con’s, as voiced by some of the artists and patrons.

The big problem with distributing artists up and down the harbor is that most of these places are very small. Not many people get a chance to see people. Also, when there are people performing on the main stage, most will stop and watch there. Others simply had no idea someone was performing in an upstairs section, outside, or who any of these people were in the first place. Maybe decreasing the amount of restaurants and venues would have been a better idea. The pros are much smaller than the con’s, as the only pro is that artists were always performing for the entire weekend. If you missed someone perform at a certain location, you could always catch them again later at a different spot.

One thing I was both proud of and happy to have seen was that one of the festivals primary sponsors, Jim Beam, had placed buckets on the main stages to allow people to donate to their charity, Operation Homefront. This is a charity setup to raise money to help provide meals for family members of deployed military members during the holidays. All of the artists there supported this cause, and each tried to inform those watching the shows of the cause. Many people chose to donate each day towards the cause.

Overall, I had an amazing time. I was able to enjoy local food, meet great people, and watch talented artists the entire weekend. The weather was perfect, and I wasn’t able to find a sad or unhappy face in the entire crowd. The Gulf Coast needs more events like The Destin Seafood Festival, as it really brings out the entire community and allows everyone to enjoy a peaceful weekend of family fun and relaxation. If you’ve never been to our local festival before, I highly recommend making plans to attend next year. I promise you won’t be disappointed.

For more information on Operation Homefront, click here.
For more information regarding the festival itself, click here.
A full list of all sponsors can be found here.
The Destin Seafood Festival also has its own Facebook page, located here.