Fresh seafood and family fun at the 12th Annual Riverfest, Nov. 20-21

Ormond Beach Observer
Neighbors

For the first time since 2019, the Riverfest Seafood Festival is back with all the fresh fish, family fun, and fall festival delights that attendees have come to expect at this annual celebration of life along the water. On Nov. 20 and 21 visit Rockefeller Gardens and Fortunato Park in Ormond Beach to find more than two dozen food vendors, live music, boats, paddleboards, kid’s activities, a draft beer garden with TVs to catch your favorite football team and so much more.

Be sure to come hungry. Are you in the mood for crab cakes? Chowder? Fried shrimp? Fish and chips? Maybe your tastes run to burgers and fries? Sausages? Barbecue? You’ll find it all at Riverfest along with fried Oreos, ice cream, kettle corn and more.

Sit back and enjoy live entertainment with your fabulous food. We are so excited to be able to offer these great bands a chance to be heard again. Saturday features country with BLU Highway, 60s rock with Emperor Napoleon, and R&B artist Amy Alysia and the Soul Operation. Ease into your Sunday with Beachside Music, then rock the day away with Grand Theft Audio and We Are Electric.

Worried about missing your college or professional football team’s big win? Don’t be! We have flat-screen TVs playing all the weekend’s biggest rivalries under in our beer garden.

This festival is about much more than food, however. Held right along Ormond’s sparkling riverfront, the event features two days of water activities including rides on the fabulous Seabreacher submersible and visits from the Super Petrel hydroplane. You can enjoy the boats and still stay dry when you visit our boat and "grown up" water toy displays on the festival grounds.

Of course, our popular Kid Fish fishing clinic will be back this year — sponsored by Fish Florida, Hull’s Seafood, Nauti Pets, Innovative Bookkeeping, and Florida Fish and Wildlife. Kids from 4-12 can go through our learning stations to find out more about casting, knot tying, and ethical angling. When they are finished, they can take home one of our 300 free fishing poles while supplies last.

There’s plenty more for young ones to do in our Kids Zone. Make a craft, jump, bounce and climb, play some putt-putt, get your face painted or paint the Spanos car. You can stop in at the Early Learning Coalition’s bus to play or to get a quick free hearing and vision test.

This year Riverfest runs Saturday, Nov. 20 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 21 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Free admission and free parking make it easy to enjoy the great variety of planned activities in both riverfront parks. A free shuttle service from our remote parking lots makes parking even easier. Take a look at the website for parking locations.

Check our Facebook event page for updated schedules of music and vendors. For more information about the Festival, please contact Julia Truilo at [email protected] or Becky Parker at [email protected] 386-492-2938.

Riverfest Seafood Festival is sponsored in part by: Adams, Cameron & Co, Realtors; Chiumento Law; City of Ormond Beach; Crown Jewelry & Pawn, Daytona Beach News-Journal, Fish Florida, Flagler Broadcasting; Halifax Insurance Partners; Highlander Corporation; Hometown News; Hull’s Seafood; Innovative Bookkeeping; Money Pages; Nauti Pets; Oceanside Country Club; Ormond Beach Observer; Ritchey Cadillac; Ritchey Buick-GMC; Robbins Camper Sales; Southern Stone Media Group; WSBB; Waste Pro and Yuengling Lager.