GULF SHORES – The 51st Annual Shrimp Festival started off on Thursday, Oct. 10, with close to 300 vendors who provided just about everything including food, clothing, art, interactive games and artisanal crafts.
Rob and Ginny Barnas, co-chairs of the festival this year, said there was a headcount of 300,000 visitors the last time it was taken at Shrimp Fest in 2014. They both expected to see more visitors this year due to the evacuation from Hurricane Milton.
Ginny Barnas said that she's glad hurricane evacuees, which includes visitors and some vendors, could receive "a bonus" by coming to Gulf Shores during that time and that "we can sympathize" with those who have been affected by hurricanes.
"We care about the community and want to give back," Ginny Barnas said.
The official headcount this year was completed by YellowHammer IT. An unofficial headcount was located in the center of the festival site where attendees added push pins to a map of the United States to show from where they were coming.
"We had over 600 pushpins used on the first day," Ginny Barnas said.
While there are several reasons people attend Shrimp Festival, one feature of the weekend are the competitions among vendors and young artists who've submitted their work to be judged at the event. With 30 vendors in fine arts and 120 vendors in arts and crafts, hard decisions were made to determine the best at the fest among the vendors.
Students from Baldwin County Schools submitted artwork for the Ron Arnold Memorial Youth Art Show Display, which according to a Shrimp Festival press release was named in honor of Shrimp Festival Fine Arts Chairman, Ron Arnold, who passed away in 2021. Student categories were separated into elementary, middle and high school and each section boasted a "best of the fest," "first," "second" and "third" place winner.
Out of everything at Shrimp Fest, both Barnas' were insistent that the festival could not be held without the volunteers that come together to create what Rob calls a "well-run machine."
"We have an amazing committee of volunteers that work year-round to put this festival on," Ginny Barnas said, "We have over 600 volunteers."
Ginny Barnas said the festival also wouldn't have gone on without the City of Gulf Shores' "can-do crew" organized by Roger Groves and Lee Galbreath from public works. She said this crew helped to keep the festival clean by picking up trash and maintaining the "cleanest porta-potties you'll see."
Those interested in volunteering next year for shrimp fest can sign up at the festival's official website
www.myshrimpfest.com closer to the time for Shrimp Festival 2025.