Roving reporter Liz, reporting for duty

As promised, Liz chronicled her visit to the Shrimp Festival and has returned with some color commentary and photo journalistic delight that is sure to make you drool. Enjoy . . .


Always the first weekend in May, the Isle of Eight Flags Shrimp Festival held on lovely Amelia Island, in downtown Fernandina Beach is a must see destination for shrimp and pirate loving aficionados. This was not my first Shrimp Boat Festival....since I grew up in Fernandina....but it was probably the best in recent memory. Friday night is usually the Pirate Invasion with fireworks, fake pirate ship, fake shots fired from the cannon, and fake pirates running through the cobbled downtown streets of Fernandina. Emphasis on fake. We skipped that in lieu of a bushel of crabs, and my Dad's infamous garlic crabs. Yum. We ventured downtown on Saturday, on the prowl for pirates and shrimp. The weather was perfect, approximately 78 degrees with a light sea breeze, and beautiful sunshine. I think my last SBF, it was 50 degrees and drizzling. Blech. After securing a parking spot not too far from the festival, we started to comb our way through the crowds. I say there was probably a million people there. My Dad says it is probably more like 100,000. Whatever, same difference. It was crowded regardless...given there are only normally about 12,000 inhabitants of the tiny isle. Matt and I weaved in and out of streets, looking at the art, antiques and pirate freak shows - and totally unrelated, saw our friend Eric who just moved to FB from ATL, and he's surviving the cultural differences and was wearing his going out flip flops, as I had recommended - when in Rome...... Finally made our way to the food booths. Here's how you determine who has the best food. Church of God booth - no line. Shrimpers of America - line around the block. Shrimp is shrimp, and we were impatient, so ordered a low country boil box lunch from the nice ladies at the Church of God booth and found a seat on the railway ties....AND found out why there was no line at the Church of God booth - not particularly tasty. So got a funnel cake to tie us over (fresh out of the boiling vat of grease), as we watched the lady pirates throw beads from the pirate ship, Mardi Gras style. We headed back to the car around 3pm, so we could make it home for customary island nap time on Saturdays. ; )



So, in case you were wondering, the Church of God shrimp did come in a distant second to the pirates.