Gulf Shores National Shrimp Festival

Shrimp Festival Music Every second full weekend of October there's a feast for your eyes, ears, and certainly your palate at the National Shrimp Festival in Gulf Shores, where food, art, crafts, music and family fun is abundant for four days.

2011 marked the 40th year for the National Shrimp Festival that focuses on our favorite crustacean but features all local seafood, live music, fine arts, arts and crafts, and an interactive children's village. The beachfront location for the Shrimp Festival is directly in front of The Hangout at the end of Hwy. 59 in Gulf Shores.

Shrimp and other seafood delicacies along with the usual festival fare will delight your palate, and it always tastes better on the beach. Shopping for your favorite unique item and your annual Shrimp Festival souvenir is truly a treat. Two stages provide musical entertainment during the day and well into the evening with a wide variety of acts from country and Motown to Cajun and rock-n-roll.

Fiery Irie Island Shrimp The island restaurants look forward to this event all year and get an early taste in September when a contest is held in which local restaurants compete for the bragging rites for preparing the best shrimp dish. The honor holds true for an entire year until the contest rolls around again. This year at the Fourth Annual Zatarain's National Shrimp Festival Chef's Challenge the chef duo of Levi Proffitt and Tony Luna at The Hangout in Gulf Shores took home the first place honors. Competing with 13 other restaurants Proffitt and Luna produced the winning dish called Fiery Irie Island Shrimp atop Zatarain's Caribe Cakes. Their awesome creation included mango and chile glazed shrimp infused with dark rum served on top of Zatarain's Caribbean rice and served with arugula, pea tendrils and mint tossed in lime vinaigrette and topped with sweet potato hay.

Shrimp Fest Food To compete the dishes had to feature Alabama Wild Shrimp and at least one of the 200+ products produced by Zatarain. Beyond that the imaginations of the chefs were unleashed and their creativity definitely showed through in the contest entries.

Winning second place at the Chef's Challenge was Shucker's Oyster Bar at The Wharf Marina in Orange Beach with their Chicken-Fried Blue Grits with Jalapeno Smoked Sausage and Shrimp Cheddar Cream Sauce prepared by Chef Robbie Redd. Third place honors went to Big Fish Restaurant and Bar in Orange Beach with its Kaffir Blackened Demi over Paneed Gulf Shrimp prepared by Chef Leck Labron Lilayuva.

Shrimp Festival Food You will definitely want to sample the best shrimp dish on the island. And I recommend that you keep all three award-winning restaurants in mind anytime you make it to the coast and want delicious, fresh seafood to delight your palate.