Sarasota Bay Seafood & Music Festival fills ears and stomachs

By Ian Swaby
| 3:25 p.m. January 12, 2025

Sarasota
Neighbors

Lisa Mullins had just moved from Massachusetts to Sarasota, and was pleased with her first weekend out, which she spent at the Sarasota Bay Seafood & Music Festival.

“This is awesome…” she said. “This is like a last-minute thing, and it’s the best thing ever — all the music, the seafood, the people, it’s great.”

Mullins, who grew up in Venice, returns to the area after 35 years, and enjoyed the festival alongside her sister Linda Mullins, who lives locally, and her other sister Lindsey Mullins, who visited from Canada.

The festival, held Jan. 10-12, featured fresh seafood, from a cajun broil to a crispy grouper sandwich, live music by bands such as the Kara Nally Band, Kettle of Fish, Dirty Byrd and many others, and a vendor marketplace with crafts, jewelry and more.

Held at the Sarasota Fairgrounds for the first time, the event offered a larger space than it had in its former location of J.D. Hamel Park.

Mullins noting the weather wasn't too hot that Saturday, called the event “an awesome thing for the community."

Steven Gillison and Carlos Dravo tend to the Cajun broil.

Carlos Dravo hands a dish to Jadyn Rodocker and her dog Otis

Mike Hepner plays with the Trey Wanvig Band.

Glynn Coleman listens to the live music.

Gracie Bull, 4, whose family is visiting from Ohio and staying with her Siesta Key grandparents Cathy and Jeff Mart, enjoys a festival treat.

A mixture of seafood sits over a bed of rice.

Melissa Darusz, Drew Wolcott, Kosar and Thatch

Garrett Springer prepares to serve a gryo.

René Bourdeau dances to the music of 22N.

Harper Lassiter, 10, and Jackson Lassiter, 8, play cornhole with their family.

Cooper Register, 2, a visitor from Port Charlotte, takes the cornhole beanbags straight to the goal.

Stacey Anderson of Sunken Hunter makes a sale to Juliana Jacobs, 6.

author

Ian Swaby

Ian Swaby is the Sarasota neighbors writer for the Observer. Ian is a Florida State University graduate of Editing, Writing, and Media and previously worked in the publishing industry in the Cayman Islands.