EVERGLADES SEAFOOD FESTIVAL
53-YEAR EVENT RUNS FEB. 17-19
Written by: Bill LaPlante
Question: What has a 53-year history and slept in the Gulf of Mexico last night?
Answer: The one and only Everglades Seafood Festival, or, rather, their fab food offerings. Where else can you get freshly steamed stone crabs (right off the boat), gator bites and grouper nuggets on the same plate?
Add a Skunk Ape or Everglades Fishing Co. brew … and you might not want to go back home!
Organized by Florida Stone Crabbers Association, this popular event in Everglades City brings 50,000 or so fortunate visitors for the food, fun, music and crafts Feb. 17-19, just a short drive southeast of the current Collier County courthouse, or a bit out into
the Everglades.
This year is also the centennial of Collier County, sliced off from Lee County in May 1923. The advertising millionaire Barron Gift Collier accumulated more than 1 million acres of southwest Florida in his time, pushing into Everglades City. Modern Collier County is more than 2,300 square miles, the state’s second largest county and bigger in size than Rhode Island and Delaware.
This year’s Everglades Seafood Festival is especially important, says coordinator Holly Dudley. “Homes and businesses were flooded for the second time in five years, first by Hurricane Irma, then Hurricane Ian,” she says, adding that “families were displaced and businesses worked hard to reopen. So, we’re bouncing back quickly.
Funds from our 2023 festival will help victims, including commercial fishermen rebuild.”
The Everglades Seafood Festival for five decades has been a big part of improving this small and isolated community, especially the local school system. The event last year sponsored a senior class trip, culinary courses and art supplies for local kids.
FUN FACTS
Everglades City is a major producer of stone crabs and the self-proclaimed stone crab capital of the world.
The Everglades Seafood Festival is hosted by the Florida Stone Crabbers Association, founded in May 2020.
EVERGLADES SEAFOOD
FESTIVAL GUIDE (BILL LAPLANTE)
We took a quick preview tour of the event and now share these insider tips with Florida Country magazine readers. We visited with food-truck chefs/owners from Pennsylvania, Maryland and Florida to get them:
A is for Alligator — try gator bites or whole smoked — truly unique swamp food, you’ll probably never see in your hometown.
A is for Alligator — try gator bites or whole smoked — truly unique swamp food, you’ll probably never see in your hometown.
B is for Bread, as in Indian Burger fry breadfrom
Iona’s own truck/local veggies.
C is for Catfish, as in Caribbean, it could
be spicy, take a taste to find out!
D is for Dredged, as in fresh grouper enrobed
in slivered almonds, then crusted.
E is for Everyone who attends and
tastes — all enjoy!
F is for Frog legs that slept in the ‘Glades
last night, out in airboat country.
G is for fresh-off-the-boat Grouper, blackened,
fried, grilled or extra crunchy.
H is for Hard shell, as in oysters, steamed or
Rockefeller, from Goodland Shellfish Co.
I is for Innovative eating, as in must-try swamp
cabbage from LaBelle, Florida.
K sounds like Cocktail, as in shrimp, hand-crafted
by Everglades City school kids. The rumors of
a super-secret sauce abound. Grades K-12 benefit
from festival funds, btw.
L is for Lobster rolls, handmade with Maine
hard-shell bugs, to use Northeast slang, for
this cold-water delicacy of the deeps.
M is for Mullet, expertly seasoned and fried and
not to be missed. The stuff is miles ahead of
any other product, truly a delicacy.
N is for Never, as in you will never get the family
recipe for stone-crab paella available only at
Everglades Seafood Festival, served Cuban-style.
O is for Life Changers Outreach, where barbeque
is the specialty from a group that turns lives
around by cooking and selling unique gift items
at their merchandise booth.
I got you through the first letters of Everglades Seafood Festival
offerings. You’re on your own to discover the last few. And
please remember moderation, all things in moderation. FCM
ROUNDUP
Everglades Seafood Festival,
Everglades City, Florida, Feb. 17-19,
seafoodfestboard.com (email),
evergladesseafoodfestival.org
Florida Stone Crabbers Association,
stonecrabbers.com
Everglades City/Gateway to 10,000 Islands,
florida-everglades.com
Collier County centennial,
colliercounty100.com
