Shrimp Festival always held the first weekend in May on Amelia Island

Fernandina Beach is credited with being the birthplace of the modern commercial shrimping industry, early in the 20th century.   Read latest e-magazine article (April 19, 2008) about the 2008 Isle of Eight Flags Shrimp Festival.

Watch Fernandina Shrimp Festival video to see the atmosphere, musical entertainment, Shrimp Festival Parade, Fun Zone, and more!

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If you like shrimp, live music, and browsing fine arts & crafts, antiques, etc., this is one of the best events on the East Coast, so don't miss it! 

This festival showcases the creations of more than 300 award-winning artists and craftspeople from all over the country.  You'll find original works in oils, acrylics, watercolor,  pottery, sculpture, metal, wood photography, plus lots of unique jewelry, crafts, and fine antiques.  The Shrimp Festival is a sizable event, so if you desire to see everything, make sure you give yourself plenty of time.  You can certainly spend an entire day enjoying the festival and seeing all the exhibits. 

A small island resort community, Amelia's quaint Victorian seaport of Fernandina Beach holds their famous Isle of Eight Flags Shrimp Festival every year during the first weekend in May. The Shrimp Fest parade, a favorite event among local residents, is the first Thursday in May, beginning the event weekend, at 6 pm on Centre Street (also along Ash Street). 

The Shrimp Festival's musical entertainers get many members of the festive crowd "swinging to the music." A wide variety of music is scheduled during the festival, including Jazz, Pop, Rock, Beach Music, Folk, Country, and Big Band). Past performers have included The Drifters, Beatlemania, The Swingin' Medallions, John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band, to mention a few.

You're sure to work up an appetite browsing the arts & crafts, not to mention the mouth-watering aroma drifting around you from the many food vendors.  Of course there will be tons of shrimp, literally, cooked a variety of ways.  (Remember "Bubba" from Forrest Gump ramble on about all the different ways to cook shrimp?)

FRIDAY EVENING:  PIRATES INVADE AROUND 9:30 PM, FIREWORKS AROUND 9:45 PM

Plus, it wouldn't be the Shrimp Festival without an "invasion of the pirates," a long-time tradition.  The pirates sail into the harbor aboard a schooner, firing cannons several times during the weekend. 

The food vendors open on Friday night at 6 pm with live musical entertainment performing at the riverfront stage area at the foot of Centre Street, harbor front.  The festival's fireworks display occurs each year around 9:45 pm, Friday evening.

BROWSE ARTIST BOOTHS SATURDAY AND SUNDAY

The arts, crafts & antiques dealers are setup on Saturday, from 9 am until 6 pm, and on Sunday from 10 am to 5 pm.  The festival also offers a children's area (FAMILY FUN ZONE) with fun concessions for the kids, located in the public library parking lot off 4th Street.  The FAMILY FUN ZONE is open Friday evening starting at 6 p.m., and during the day on Saturday and Sunday,  and features a slide, rock climbing wall, trampoline, face painting, other games and live entertainment.

The popularity of the festival keeps growing, and draws an estimated 150,000 people.  As mentioned above, the Isle of Eight Flags Shrimp Festival in Fernandina Beach has been rated as one of the best festivals in Florida and one of the top 20 events in the southeast region of the U.S. If you like shrimp, live music, and browsing fine arts & crafts, antiques, etc., this is one of the best events on the East Coast, so don't miss it! 

Here's a tip -- If you are a serious art shopper, you might prefer coming to the festival on Sunday, as Saturday usually draws the greatest crowds.  You'll find it easier to browse the many artist booths in the earlier morning hours on Sunday.

Where exactly is Amelia Island?

Clinging to Florida's "mainland" at the most northeastern tip (bordering Georgia), Amelia Island abounds with both charm and beauty and really is a "cozy" island, about 2.5 miles across at its widest point, and 13 miles long (18.2 square miles in total).  Amelia Island is part of Nassau County, Florida, a 649-square-mile area with a population of approximately 65,000. 

DIRECTIONS to Amelia Island

If your plans include driving here for a visit, there's no ferry to worry about -- a bridge connects Amelia to the rest of Florida.  Amelia Island is near the Florida/Georgia border, exit #373 off I-95.  After exiting I-95 at the Yulee/Fernandina exit, follow A1A for about 14 miles to the bridge.  If you are traveling north on I-95 from Jacksonville, FL you can also take an alternate route, the Heckscher Drive exit, a very scenic route which brings you across the Talbot islands and directly onto Amelia Island's south-end. 

Flying to Amelia Island is also easy. Apart from our island airport, the Fernandina Beach Municipal Airport (for private aircraft), the Jacksonville International Airport is conveniently located only 25 minutes south of the island.

Due to the crowds that are drawn to Amelia Island during the Shrimp Festival, the community has put in place a well-organized transportation and designated parking system. 

Official parking locations are $10 per car to park (Fernandina Beach High School and Buccaneer Field). Watch for the Shrimp Festival parking signs when you arrive on the island.

• Go to the official Fernandina Beach Shrimp Festival website for a map of the 8-block Centre festival area and other details on food vendors, arts, and antiques exhibitors.