53rd Florida Seafood Festival begins today!

The 53^rd Florida Seafood Festival begins today at Battery Park in Apalachicola.

The gates open at 10 this morning, there is no charge to get in the park this afternoon.

The blessing of the fleet will begin at 4 o'clock with King Retsyo and Miss Florida Seafood leading the pack aboard a shrimp boat.

Once the blessing is complete, the king and queen will then officially open the weekend’s activities.

They will be joined by the Port St. Joe High School ROTC Color Guard and there will be a fly-over by two T-38 Talon jets from Tyndall Air Force Base at 4:15 honoring our veterans.

There will be live musical entertainment from through the evening at the festival’s main stage – today’s headliners are Christian bands Ardent Worship at 7 PM and The Shepards at 830..

The park will close tonight at 10:30.

Saturday is the big day of the festival.

The Redfish Run begins at 8 at the Gibson Inn - The Seafood Festival Parade begins at 10 on Saturday morning.

It costs 5 dollars to get in the park on Saturday, but for the price you get to watch the oyster shucking and oyster eating contest as well as hourly blue crab races.

Last years winner of the Oyster shucking contest recently won the national competition in Maryland and will represent the US in the international competition in Ireland in 2017.

There is also plenty of music on Saturday including the VonWamps, Boo Radley, The Currys and Clayton Anderson.

Festival headliner Rodney Atkins will kick off his show at 8:30.

The Park will close at 11 Pm on Saturday – but the carnival section will remain open through Sunday night at 10 PM.

If you would like to see a full listing of this weekends events, just log on to the festival’s official website at www.floridaseafoodfestival.com.

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