Pensacola Seafood Festival kicks off today for three-day weekend

The Pensacola Seafood Festival returns to downtown Pensacola this weekend for its 47th year.

Expect to see some big changes when it comes to food. At every corner, you can expect to see at least three different areas of local chefs, restaurants and food trucks preparing their best seafood dishes.

“For our Gulf to Table area, local restaurants will be serving serve tapas style portions of their signature dishes,” Fiesta Pensacola Director of Events Margaret-Anne West said. Organizers expected to have 10 restaurants participate in that experience.

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After you get your fill, be sure to get a front row seat at Fiesta Seafood Grille. Sponsored by Pensacola Energy, the Fiesta Seafood Grille features live cooking demonstrations from local restaurants throughout the weekend.

“They usually cook two dishes,” West said. “And they select lucky audience members to come and taste the dishes, so that will be a lot of fun.”

Looking for more variety? Then you’ll have to swing by Alcaniz Alley and give any or all of the 11 represented restaurants a try.

“We will be bringing back what we called ‘Alcaniz Alley’ last year,” West said. “Our food vendors on Alcaniz Street will be local restaurants serving up their local favorites.”

Former Lonestar Kitchens 2 Go Owner Big Mike Windhorst has been leading the charge of this full food reset.

“I see Alcaniz Alley serving as a trade show for the local restaurants,” Big Mike Windhorst said. “So they can get their December, January, February sales a little higher. You want people to come back. You’ll make money in these three days (of the festival), but you’re here to get people through your front door.”

Speaking of sales, Windhorst and West both acknowledge that people have recently been feeling the pinch at the drive thru and sit-down restaurants. As a result, they’ve worked to create an affordable solution that won’t break the bank.

“On Alcaniz Alley as well as Gulf to Table, we’re asking our vendors to offer a lower cost item throughout the weekend,” West said. “We want people to experience multiple restaurants and taste multiple different items. Our Gulf to Table area will have items that are $11 or less, and some of our vendors on Alcaniz Alley will be offering seaside samples for $8 or less. That way, we’re appealing to everybody and making sure everybody gets a chance to taste a little bit of Pensacola’s delicious seafood.”

If seafood isn’t your thing, but you enjoy watching shows on Food Network, Windhorst will be setting up five video displays throughout the festival grounds to showcase the chefs in real time.

“The video displays will help them advertise just a little bit and let (attendees) know that we’ve got chefs here now,” Windhorst said. “So we are kicking it up, but we’re trying to get the word out as much as possible about these changes.”

So, what will not be changing? Plenty of things. For example, you can still expect to enjoy live music from the Molly Ringwalds and the Original Wailers, as well as browsing through hundreds of arts and crafts vendors.

“Right now we have a little more than 140 arts and crafts vendors at this time,” West said. “Applications are still open, and typically we try to get anywhere between 150 and 175 vendors, so we’re definitely confident that we’re going to hit that mark.”

If there’s a vendor you particularly liked in previous years, there’s a good chance they’ll be returning this year.

“They travel from all over the country,” West said. “Mainly the southeast, but we’ll have all sorts of stuff, like jewelry, photography, gourmet items, you name it, we’ll probably have it there. We have vendors for 30-plus years that keep coming back. They have the same spot, they have the same customers every year, so a lot of those repeat customers will go to those booths and buy Christmas Gifts from those vendors.”

And you certainly can’t count out the kids.

“We do have a children’s area that’ll be open on Saturday and Sunday,” Fiesta Pensacola PR and Marketing Coordinator Madeleine Leidner said. “This effort is also run by a group of volunteers made up from local high school students.” 

Festival opens at 11 a.m. on all three days, closing at 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 5 p.m. Sunday.

“There’s really a whole lot to do, and it’s a whole lot of fun,” West said. “That’s why it’s three days long.”

For more information, visit www.pensacolaseafoodfestival.com

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola Seafood Festival 2024 offers food, arts