- March 14, 2025
The Riverfest Seafood Festival had a new pirate crew and mermaid area for attendees to take photographs, enjoy some bagpipe music and participate in a treasure hunt. Photo by Michele Meyers
Joe and Angela Mahar press their hands in the sand before making their Magic Milk Island Art at the Riverfest Seafood Festival. Photo by Michele Meyers
Caroline Strong and Bridget Stavoy offer free samples of Yuengling to attendees of the Riverfest Seafood Festival. Photo by Michele Meyers
Caroline Strong pours a sample of Yuengling Flight at the Riverfest Seafood Festival. Photo by Michele Meyers
Owner Ashley "Island Girl" Willis and Cindy "Hurricane Cindy" Hall pose at the Magic Milk Island Art booth at the Riverfest Seafood Festival. Photo by Michele Meyers
Ashley Willis prepares the customers' art for the "magic milk" pour. Photo by Michele Meyers
Caroline Strong and Bridget Stavoy offer free samples of Yuengling to attendees of the Riverfest Seafood Festival. Photo by Michele Meyers
"Milkman" Dwayne Clark pours the "magic milk" into the customers' design. Photo by Michele Meyers
Dwayne "the Milkman" Clark and Cindy "Hurricane Cindy" Hall pose behind the items customers can use in their Magic Milk Island Art creations. Photo by Michele Meyers
Jen Carrillo, owner of Gran Arepa, poses in front of the arepas she has prepared for the customers at the Riverfest Seafood Festival. Photo by Michele Meyers
Penny and her people, Justin "just J.T." Tomlinson and Kate McLean, cannot decide on what food to eat at the Riverfest. Photo by Michele Meyers
Justin "just J.T." Tomlinson, Kate McLean and their sidekick Penny walk through the crowd at the Riverfest. This is the first time the Edgewater couple have attended the festival. Photo by Michele Meyers
Mailly Rodriguez serves food as Derly Osorio and Juliana Lombo taste test the food. Photo by Michele Meyers
Mailly Rodriguez serves food at the Riverfest Seafood Festival. Photo by Michele Meyers
Dijana Vajceta smiles as she asks a customer what she would like to order at the Riverfest Seafood Festival. Photo by Michele Meyers
Juan Fernandez asks for a little help pouring the vegetables at the Riverfest. Photo by Michele Meyers
Dijana Vajceta scoops the vegetables as Juan Fernandez pours the freshly steamed batch into the pan. Photo by Michele Meyers
Festival goers eat at a long table together at the Riverfest Seafood Festival. Photo by Michele Meyers
Troy Parriott poses amidst his Art-N-Around pieces at the Riverfest Seafood Festival. Photo by Michele Meyers
Seafood was in abundance at the Riverfest Seafood Festival. Photo by Michele Meyers
People line up for Seafood Unlimited's combination platters. Owner Robert Adams (middle) is from Hunter's Creek and has been a vendor at the Riverfest for years. Photo by Michele Meyers
A new pirate and mermaid area offered photo ops to kids and their families at the Riverfest. Photo by Michele Meyers
Shane Clark and Nichole Ingerto hang out by the Halifax River at the Riverfest Seafood Festival. Photo by Michele Meyers
Scott Hanson, co-owner of Water's Edge, demonstrates how buoyant the boards are and that anybody can do it, even sitting on a chair. Photo by Michele Meyers
Lena Lux, co-owner of Water's Edge, gives a paddle board demonstration at the Riverfest Seafood Festival. Photo by Michele Meyers
George "Gonzo" Gonzalez shows off his very special pirate tattoo. Photo by Michele Meyers
Vaudeen Cagnina poses with mermaids Jeanette Garcia and Brittany Byrom at the Riverfest. Photo by Michele Meyers
Sisters Rowan and Piper Fritze pose with mermaids Jeanette Garcia and Brittany Byrom at the Riverfest. Photo by Michele Meyers
Diamond Jim creates balloon art for Melanie and Annabeth Snook. Photo by Michele Meyers
Timothy Snook waves his balloon around in the Kid Zone at the Riverfest Seafood Festival. Photo by Michele Meyers
Timothy Snook checks out his new fishing pole. 300 poles were given out at the Riverfest Seafood Festival. Photo by Michele Meyers
Becky Parker wanted pirates.
As Ormond Beach MainStreet’s new executive director, this was the first time Parker had been at the organizational helm of the Riverfest Seafood Festival, held at Rockefeller Gardens and Fortunato Park Nov. 19-20. She wanted to add a large area for pirate crews and mermaids and reached out to Heather Walters, who is with the Crewe of Thee Leviathan of Daytona Beach.
“Becky just wanted to have pirates so she reached out to me and asked if I could help. This is my area for my particular crew. My husband Jeff and I are from Palm Coast but we cover Ormond Beach all the way down to Ponce Inlet. We are part of the Fun Coast.”
HEATHER WALTERS, Crewe of Thee Leviathan member
“Becky just wanted to have pirates, so she reached out to me and asked if I could help,” Walters said. “This is my area for my particular crew. My husband Jeff and I are from Palm Coast, but we cover Ormond Beach all the way down to Ponce Inlet. We are part of the Fun Coast.”
Leviathan has crews in 36 states and nine countries. Pirate crews participate in community events and fundraisers. They welcomed kids and their families to take photographs with pirates and mermaids at the seafood festival.
The Ancient City Privateers and other crewes also took part in the festival.
“The thing we enjoy about it the most is we can go to any of those places and call up our crew mates even if we’ve never met them before and they welcome us into their city,” he said. “We have folks just like family that we can go hang with.”
Music played in the background as festival goers perused artists’ wares, sipped on Yuengling and ate from plates stacked high with savory seafood. Children played in the Kid Zone while Diamond Jim made balloon creations for everyone. Also, Kid Fish offered fishing clinics and handed out 300 fishing poles.
“This is our first year here,” said Kate McLean, of Edgewater. “Look at all the food. We have barely made it anywhere. We are already like, which ones are we going to choose?"
Editor's note: This story was updated at 9:33 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 23, to include the fact pirates from the Ancient City Privateers and other crewes took part in the festival.
