Downtown Galveston To Host New Shrimp Festival September 25

Online, June 30, 2010 (Newswire.com) - GALVESTON, TX - Who doesn't love a good bowl of gumbo? The Galveston Island Shrimp Festival makes it return September 25, 2010 to downtown historic Galveston. "The first shrimp festival of a planned annual event will involve up to 100 cooking teams of almost 500 team members and thousands of gumbo lovers," it was announced by Mike Dean, President of Yaga's Entertainment, Inc. a local Galveston event company.

"We invite not only our local residents but all Texans to join us in celebrating the return of Galveston Island from Hurricane Ike and take this opportunity to honor the shrimp industry in Texas," says Dean, a local event company. "We plan on making this festival one of the largest shrimp festivals on the Gulf Coast in the years to come."

This year, the festival will limit the number of participating teams to 100 including 20 teams designated to Gulf Coast area restaurants and Texas Department of Agriculture's GO TEXAN Program members. All shrimp in the contest must be wild Texas shrimp. Attendees will taste and vote on the best shrimp gumbo of the twenty restaurants. The amateur teams will vie for the best shrimp gumbo of the festival as determined by judging and will be honored by having the championship gumbo on the menu of Yaga's Cafe in Galveston for one year. Other gumbo categories include chicken and sausage, shrimp bisque and an open division.



The festival will also feature a limited number of Texas wineries and will offer wine samples to festival attendees. "We are focusing on bringing Texas wineries to the festival as well as local artisans so we can showcase Texas only products," notes Dean. "All exhibitors will have to qualify as GO TEXAN members to participate in event."


Additional activities include a children's parade, 5K walk/run, 1K children's walk, and a Whimcycle Shrimpcycle. Festival goers can also participate in a merchant walkabout to win a grand shopping spree in downtown Galveston.

The Galveston Island Shrimp Festival has put a spin on an old tradition by changing the blessing of the fleet to the blessing of "da'feet" to tie in with the 5K and 1K. The timed 5K and 1K will benefit the University of Texas Medical Branch. "Since Hurricane Ike, we don't have a huge shrimp fleet to bless, so we decided to have a 'blessing of da'feet' that serves as a tagline to our festival name," adds Dean. 



The festival ends on Sunday, Sept. 26 with a Whimcycle Shrimpcycle on the Seawall, a leisurely bicycle cruise from Stewart Beach down Seawall Blvd. to the Float Pool and Patio Bar, 29th and Seawall. The costumed ride will conclude with a tailgate party for all costumed riders prior to the Houston Texans and Dallas Cowboys game. Pre-registration is required-21 and up only.

For registration and more event information go to www.galveston.com/shrimpfestival.