Seafood Extravaganza The 2024 Destin Seafood Festival

Welcome back, first timers. We're back out in Destin, Florida

And today we're taking you to Destin's oldest and most celebrated event

the Destin Seafood Festival. It's a mile and a half seafood extravaganza

This event's been going on since 1978. It's put on by the Destin Charter Boat Association Women's Auxiliary

They do all kinds of great things for the community. The Charter Boat Association encourages responsible fishing

They also donate a lot of money to the community, and they also have a beauty pageant

Excuse me. This is not a beauty pageant. This is a scholarship program

Where they crown Miss Destin every year. We're starting this adventure at the far end by the Destin Bridge and we're going to work our way all the way down the harbor

This event is held every year at the end of September and it's the big kickoff party to the Destin Fishing Rodeo

The best thing about this event, it's completely free unless you like to sample some of the delicious food and drinks they have

You can purchase VIP tickets and those tickets range anywhere from $65 all the way up to $130 depending on how many days you're coming

Even if you don't have VIP tickets, you're not missing out. You have an opportunity to purchase all the delicious food from all the local restaurants down here

This is a three-day festival. It kicks off on Friday and goes all the way to 6 p.m. on Sunday night

On Saturday is the big day. It goes from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. with fireworks at 9 p.m

As Terry mentioned, there's all kinds of different ticket options if you want to be eating food

And we're going to be eating food. Well, actually, I'll be eating food

Terry's still a little iffy on seafood. I want to give a huge thank you to Tudu and Destin

If you're not following her on Instagram, you should be. She covers all the great events around here

This festival has five stages of entertainment. This first stage is the Harbor Walk stage

You also have your Boathouse stage. You also have the Sky Bar stage

They're still setting up, but this is an awesome place to watch a band and the sunset

You also have your VIP stage. Last but not least, you've got your Heron Harbor stage

While there are five official stages, a lot of the restaurants here always have live local music

The Destin Seafood Festival is a kickoff party for the month-long Destin Fishing Rodeo

It's a month-long competition where people go out, fish, and see who can get the biggest catch

And daily, you can watch them weigh in the fish right behind AJ's. This event is great for people of all ages

They even have a kid zone. They've got toys, games, even face painting. We're now in the thick of the General Missions Food and Beverage Options

We'll be right back

We getting near the end We at Harbor Tavern and we got a couple more tents to

check out. And then we're gonna go check out the VIP area and try some delicious food

This VIP area is absolutely packed. We've been standing in line for about 20 minutes and we're

not to the door yet. But once we get inside, they've got free food samples, a fan, cash bar

and a scenic area if you can find a spot. Inside the VIP area, they have a tent with some TV set up

so you can catch your football games. They have a couple cash bars in here

as well as a Bacardi blender bike where you can blend your own margarita

Is it time to eat yet? First seafood bite of the day

going with a seafood taco from Outpass Seafood. That one's already the front runner

Pink crab salad. I think it was worth the wait to get in here

Hot soup? They said it's very spicy, so let's give it a whirl. How are you doing

I'm going to last in the food. Oh, it's hot. I gotta go wipe my tongue off on some crab

All right. Let's see how swollen my face can be by the end of the day

Dang. Outcast is putting out some seriously good food. I dropped it on the floor

Take number two. The folks from Outkast saw that I dropped it and they gave me a whole other set

They gave me two just in case I drop it again. I'm gonna set it down here on the floor so it's already there

On to the blackened mango glazed shrimp from Fudbuckers. They always put out really good food so I have high hopes for this one too

Definitely sweeter, a lot sweeter than the last one. That had a lot of spice, but rice, the mango's really good

The shrimp, let's give it a whirl. So bright and vibrant. It's almost like a dessert

We're at the macaroon chef. They got some dessert options, and then it looks like they got an appetizer option, too

It's another light, sweet, creamy shrimp option. It's really good, it's refreshing, but I think we can get dirty and try some of this dessert

Going with the key lime pie. Very creamy, sweet, tangy, everything you want in the key lime pie

They also have a guava rum cheesecake. It's very creamy. It's got a real interesting flavor to it

Not too sweet. They're coming out with an Asian-style shrimp salad. Look at that noodles It like a noodle salad with shrimp Devil Ice because it also sweet Asian but then also like a Cajun It a really good salad

It's more of a pasta, but I'm liking it. Now they have a crab rice ball

It looks hot, deep-fried, creamy. It is a fried rice ball. Which one was it

A lot of rice. And some crab. One of our favorite places to eat is Marina Cafe

We've had a lot of food there, but I have never had the lobster bisque. So bottoms up

I don't even know if that's lobster bisque. It's a cup full of lobster. There's so much lobster in this

This is great. I might have to come back for this one. This is, so far, my favorite soup

We got some smoked Gouda shrimp grits. You thought Sherry was going to try it, didn't you

Now, she's abstaining from seafood still for a lifetime. I'm going right for the shrimp

Going right with the grits. Here we go. Big bite. I didn't know if I like grits or not, but I think I do

Holy Indian Restaurant is out here. If you guys haven't seen our video, we did a whole Holy Fest video where we ate there

and went to the festival that they put on annually. It's an amazing time, and if you haven't been, you've got to get down to the landing

at Coral Beach and party because it's a great, colorful time, and their food is amazing

But for now, we're going to try their fish and chips. Indian fish and chips

Look at this. That's an interesting chip, but I'm here for it

That's a delicious chip. And their fish is battered. It's hot. It looks sauced responsibly

I think I found my new favorite fish and chip spot That's a great masala

With salmon Never been a huge salmon guy But what's saving this is the masala

The Boathouse has a couple different options They have a shrimp pasta They have a peel and eat shrimp that's cooked in beer

and then they also have a s'more dessert. They had salad listed. I didn't see it out there, so we're going to just focus on these three

But Terry needs to eat something, so she's going to try the s'mores. Is this a dessert festival

Oh, that's really interesting. Doesn't taste like a s'more, but I like it

Now for the blackened shrimp pasta. It is cheesy and it is creamy

That's packed in flavor. Oh, and there's a spice at the end that kind of gets you

It's a little spicy, it's very creamy. It's pretty good. Solid blaster

But what people look like they're going back for is the shrimp. You can definitely smell the beer

Oh, man. Yeah. If you guys have been watching, you know we're not much beer people

so we'll give this a whirl, but it's pretty beer-y. The other flavors are so good

that they almost nearly offset the flavor of beer. Found Boathouse Salad

She called it a Fiesta-y salad. So it's citrusy and fun. That is very citrusy Shrimp nice Lettuce is good but very citrusy

If you like citrus, this is the one for you. Now we have artistic catering, and they have a filet mignon skewer with charred Caribbean potatoes and a roast garlic aioli

It's all the flavors you want in one place, one time. And if the fact that they're all gone is any indication, this is going to be really good

This is the place to be. Mean potatoes, my favorite. You know, I got to start with the beef

Steak is tender. I've got a real nice, citrusy, garlicky flavor to it

10 out of 10. Got a cup of tuna sauce and it looks like a wonton chip

Let's give it a whirl. A little tuna. A lot of flavor

A lot of sauce. And I'm going to try a little salad

It's got some berries, some dressing, looks like maybe a piece of chicken

It's not chicken. Very good. Tangy dressing, kind of sweet. There's another person here at the camera

His name's Ivory. Go check him out. What's going on, guys? Ivory here at Florida Coast Productions

Hit me up on Instagram, ordercoastproductions, TikTok, ordercoastproductions, and any video work

Hit me up. Thank you. We've tried all the food. Now it's time to vote

While Terry didn't try that much, she still gets a vote because everybody here gets a vote

But I know where my soup vote's going, and it's right to Marina Cafe. Yay, good soup

Dang, guys. Two dessert votes. Oh, my God. I don't think it comes as a surprise because every time we have OutKast food, they always win everything

So I'm going to vote for them for their entree, their salad, and their appetizer

All three of them. It was our first stop, and it's going to be our last stop

David's eating way too much seafood, but we got one more stop we have to make before we end this video

Made our way to our favorite cocktail spot with a view, Sky Bar

It's above the edge seafood on the Dustin Harbor. I got my standard, a kettle on soda with lime

But don't worry, David's got something extra special up his sleeve for you

I decided to go with the most ridiculous drink I could find

And it is a massive seafood Bloody Mary with its own crab paw, their shrimp

Oprah, all kinds of things. While this seafood festival only happens once a year

the restaurants that you saw in this video are open year around. So if you saw anything you want to try, make sure you get out there and

let them know the first timer sent you. Thanks again for following along in this episode and And join us next time when we try something else new for the first time

Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe. First timers. High five