LOIS KINDLE PHOTO
Plenty of seafood will be featured at the SouthShore Seafood & Arts Festival hosted by the SouthShore Chamber of Commerce Nov. 2 and 3 at E.G. Simmons Regional Park.

Inaugural SouthShore Seafood & Arts Festival set for Nov. 2 and 3

By LOIS KINDLE

The largest outdoor event in southern Hillsborough County has morphed into something bigger and better, the first ever SouthShore Seafood & Arts Festival. It will take place Nov. 2 and 3 at E.G. Simmons Regional Park, 2401 19th Ave. N.W., Ruskin.

LOIS KINDLE FILE PHOTO
You don’t have to enjoy seafood to find plenty of tasty foods at the SouthShore Seafood & Arts Festival.

“We’ve taken the best of the Ruskin Seafood Festival and Apollo Beach Manatee Festival of the Arts and combined them into one,” said Melanie Davis, executive director of the SouthShore Chamber of Commerce. “The event will now truly reflect all things South Shore and appeal to people of all ages and interests. A family could spend the entire day there.”

As always, the festival will feature an ample selection of seafood and other delicious fare from vendors like Mobstah Lobstah, Gypsy Sliders, Chop and Serve, TLC Concessions, Buttman BBQ and C&J Specialty.

New this year, you’ll have the opportunity to take some fresh seafood home with you from the Nichols Seafood Suppliers of Conch Key booth.

“They’ll have spiny lobster and stone crab fresh from Islamorada in Key West,” Davis said.

LOIS KINDLE FILE PHOTO
Ruskin artist Fred Rothenbush will be among a number of local artists and artisans joining the inaugural SouthShore Seafood & Arts Festival the first weekend in November.

Live entertainment will be featured both days. The line-up will include the SouthShore Cruisers, Kozmic Pearl, Cadillac Cowboys and Robbie Cockrell Band on Saturday and Antolena Damico & Scott Ruffner, Backbeat Band, Carly Burruss and the Howlin’ Brothers on Sunday. The Robbie Cockrell Band will play on the Clam Jam stage during the festival’s after-hours concert from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Saturday.

Kids will find lots to do. The Guppies R Guppies area features all kinds of fun things for them to play on and the Firehouse Cultural Center’s Children’s Creativity Center will have multiple, free hands on arts-related activities for kids of all ages, including sand art, seashell collages and assorted painting and coloring projects.

New to the festival will be pirate themed, high-flying aerial and acrobatic shows by Cirque Adventures to delight kids of all ages. There will be three, 30-minute shows each day at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.

For this first year only, the arts area will be smaller than what’s anticipated for future festivals, since the Apollo Beach Manatee Festival of the Arts already took place last spring. Many of its vendors already had fall commitments but are expected to attend in 2020.

LOIS KINDLE PHOTO
There’s no room for boredom when children have fun things to do like this at the SouthShore Seafood & Arts Festival. This year’s event will also feature aerial and acrobatic shows by Cirque Adventure.

However, art lovers will not be disappointed. Local favorites like Fred Rothenbush, Ron Deel and Jeanine Tatlock will be on hand for this year’s inaugural event, as well as This and That Mosaics, Dakota Rock Designs, JPS Wood Toys, Aurora Botanicals Maine and more.

Excluding food vendors, there will be a total of about 120 vendors participating. These include commercial vendors like Great Lakes Outback, Kitchen Craft, Dom’s Sunglasses, PRP Wines, Momentum Solar, MJ Natural Resources and Sam’s Club, plus nonprofit groups like Bay Area Greyhound Adoptions, CORE Hillsborough County, Hooked on Hope, Lennard High School FFA, Tampa Bay Sierra Club, Mission 22 (veterans suicide awareness) and the Critter Adoption and Rescue Effort no-kill animal shelter. The Lennard FFA will be selling plants, pepper jelly and freshly grown herbs and the GWFC Ruskin Woman’s Club, holiday wreaths.

Ever popular, the festival’s outdoor recreational area will feature Salty Scales, Family Boating & Marine Centers, Titan Boat Lifts, Gun Craft, Latitudes Tours, Gateway Classic Cars, SouthShore Spice Co. and more.

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Kids will find plenty of hands-on activities to keep them happily occupied during the SouthShore Seafood & Arts Festival at the Firehouse Cultural Center’s Children’s Creativity Center.

Christopher Ligori & Associates is the presenting sponsor of this first SouthShore Seafood & Arts Festival. Others include Hillsborough County Cultural Arts, Suncoast Credit Union, Ferman Mazda, Kids ’R’ Kids, Mosaic, Pepin Distributing, TECO and Wyndham Resorts.

“In many ways, this festival is brand new,” Davis said. “Make your plans now to have a wonderful weekend at this great venue with family and several thousand friends. You’ll be pleasantly surprised with all we have to offer.”

If You Go:

WHAT: SouthShore Seafood & Arts Festival

WHERE: E.G. Simmons Regional Park, 2401 19th Ave. N.W., Ruskin

WHEN: Nov. 2 — 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., normal festival hours, and then 5 to 7 p.m. Clam Jam outdoor concert, food court and Sandbar lounge

Nov. 3 — 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

FEATURES: Food, beer and wine, live music, arts and crafts, hands-on kids’ activities and children’s creativity center, aerial and acrobatic shows, 120 vendors, outdoor recreational area

COST: Adults, $5, children under 12, veterans and active military, free; $2 per carload park entry fee

INFORMATION: 813-645-1366 or SouthShore Seafood and Arts Festival on Facebook