ShrimpFest serves up succulent celebration
The St. George Island Lighthouse and Museum this year moved the third annual ShrimpFest from May to the second Saturday in February.
Based on how well the Feb. 10 event went, that’s when it’s going to be from here on out.
Amy Hodson, executive director of the St. George Lighthouse Association, which oversees the event, said that over the course of the day, marked by exceptionally warm and sunny weather, more than 2,500 people passed through the gate.
With about a dozen arts and crafts vendors joining the array of food trucks and tents of succulent shrimp dishes, ShrimpFest was its largest version to date since it began in 2022.
“We’re expecting to net $40,000 for the lighthouse,” Hodson said.
The Blues Factor Band, from south Georgia, kept the crowd entertained all afternoon.
This year’s successful ShrimpFest comes just two months after the lighthouse marked the 15th anniversary of the rebuilding of the Cape St. George Light in the middle of the island. For years it had stood on Little St. George Island, but erosion of the shoreline there gave rise to an effort to anchor it more firmly in the sand.
Eventually, water completely encircled the aging structure and in July 2005, the fury of Hurricane Dennis caused it to topple.
Through a massive volunteer effort, the original bricks were recovered from the water, cleaned in Eastpoint, and used to form the outermost rings of a lighthouse rebuilt over three years.
Hodson said that anniversary effort, derailed by Hurricane Michael on the 10th anniversary in 2018, was postponed to the 15th anniversary, and is nearing its goal of raising $15,000.
Meet the Editor
David Adlerstein, The Apalachicola Times’ digital editor, started with the news outlet in January 2002 as a reporter.
Prior to then, David Adlerstein began as a newspaperman with a small Boston weekly, after graduating magna cum laude from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. He later edited the weekly Bellville Times, and as business reporter for the daily Marion Star, both not far from his hometown of Columbus, Ohio.
In 1995, he moved to South Florida, and worked as a business reporter and editor of Medical Business newspaper. In Jan. 2002, he began with the Apalachicola Times, first as reporter and later as editor, and in Oct. 2020, also began editing the Port St. Joe Star.