33rd annual DeSoto Seafood Festival brings live music, great food back to Palmetto

If you love music and a healthy helping of seafood, the Heintz & Becker Hernando De Soto Historical Society’s Seafood Festival is the place to be this weekend.

The festival returned to the Sutton & Lamb Park in Palmetto for its 33rd year, complete with the usual fixings — a variety of live music performances and enough vendors to keep your mouth watering.

More than 1,000 visitors showed up to the festival kickoff Friday night. The free event continues through Sunday.

Frank and Shirley Maio, of Bradenton, say they’ve been attending since the 1980s when they first moved to the area. What keeps bringing them back? The music, of course.

“The music is a big draw and it’s a variety of entertainment,” Shirley said.

AC/DC tribute band Highway to Hell got the show started Friday and were followed up by Pitbull Toddler later in the evening.

While munching on a plate of jambalaya, the couple said the food is another big draw.

“This is just a starter,” Frank said. “We have to pace ourselves, but we’re hoping for another plate of fish later.”

Parrish residents Tony and Gail Infanti, who have been ritual festival attendants since the ‘80s, chose a grouper sandwich and a crab cake with a side of yellow rice and black beans as their dinner Friday.

“The food is always very, very good,” Frank said.

Compared to the event’s previous home on the Bradenton Riverwalk, the open park space at Sutton Park is a marked improvement.

“Finding a parking space within walking distance was next to impossible,” Gail said. “It’s much better on this side of the river.”

The festival also served as the official launch for a Palmetto-based clothing called Stoner’s Life that sells clothing adorned with stone crab designs.

“We’ve been trying to get ready and use this event as our starting point,” said co-founder Doug Lang of Palmetto. “We’ve been here before as visitors, but we felt like this was the right time to kick it off.”

The festival, put on by the Hernando DeSoto Historical Society, is sure to be a memorable time for all.

“The DeSoto folks who put this are all about the community and that’s a very good thing,” Gail Infanti said. “It’s what we need.”

Organizers say Craig Morgan, The Klick Band and Saints & Angels will also perform throughout the weekend.

The festival runs from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday. For more information about the seafood festival, visit desotosff.com

This story was originally published April 5, 2019 at 10:09 PM.