The Annual National Shrimp Festival saw 900 volunteers this year working anywhere from four- to 12-hour shifts depending on their roles.

Among these volunteers are 74 standing committee chairs who spend a year putting together the event before working all day, every day of the festival, according to Steve Jones, Gulf Shores Councilman and VP of special events and community relations for the Coastal Alabama Business Chamber.

Jones spoke at the Dec. 8 Gulf Shores City Council meeting during the Shrimp Festival presentation, where festival committee members presented mayor and council with this year's poster and thanked the city for allowing the tradition to continue.

Gulf Shores Mayor Robert Craft said, "this team makes it happen," and he was appreciative of the community-based support the festival receives.

"The difference in this festival is it is run by locals, it's presented by locals," he said. "Every one of us has skin in the game. We love the community, we love each other. That's why this one's special. You feel the community in it."

This year, 325,448 people from all 50 states entered the festival site, where Hwy. 59 and East Beach Boulevard intersect.

Jones said only three of the five entry gates had technology to count attendees but overall, the numbers exceeded the festival committee's expectations.

"We always thought it was somewhere around 200,000. We had no idea it was that good," he said. "We are grateful not only to the support we get in this community, of course, but all over the country and around the world."

The Shrimp Festival's official website states a study completed by the University of South Alabama in 2016 found an average annual attendance of 250,000 guests.

According to previous GCM reporting, Coastal Alabama Business Chamber President Greg Alexander said occupancy rates around the festival site this year were about 76%, which is just a few points off from average summer occupancy.

Next year's Shrimp Fest is set to be held Oct. 8-11. For more information on the festival or how to join the crew of volunteers, visit www.myshrimpfest.com.