Fort Myers Beach shrimp festival brings back the boom and vibe
Just a couple weeks ago, Fort Myers Beach Lions Club president Drew Yelle was wondering if there would be enough floats for the shrimp festival parade. No sooner than he had put the word out, folks from in and around Fort Myers Beach came calling to join the parade.
The results were the greatest showing for the Fort Myers Beach Lions Club Shrimp Festival since before Hurricane Ian as hundreds of participants took part in the parade as throngs of onlookers lined up the sidewalks of Estero Boulevard to take in the spectacle.
One of the highlights of the parade was certainly the Zumba dancers from Gil’s Zumba Studio in Cypress Lake, whose choreographed dance moves shook up the crowd amid a carnival-like atmosphere of pirates, shrimp costumes, water guns and Fred Flinstone cruising down the middle of the road in a cart.
Among those in the crowd were Fort Myers Beach residents Star Sherwood and Todd Zaccanelli with their friends Jim and Mary Sharp of Michigan. The group of friends enjoy attending the shrimp festival each year. Sherwood said she enjoys the “fun” and the people at the parade. Mr. Sharp said he likes the dancers.
“The vibe is back,” Sherwood said.
Kaitlin and Greg Goddard, of San Carlos Park, brought their children Gregory and Lily to the festival. Ms. Goddard spent a lot of time on Fort Myers Beach with her father Ken Conidaris and their family who operate the Lani Kai Island Resort.
“I grew up on Fort Myers Beach practically,” Ms. Goddard said as she stood on the sidewalk in front of the Lani Kai Island Resort as the firetrucks from the Fort Myers Beach Fire Control District approached to kick off the parade.
“I love the tradition,” she said of the festival.
This year’s shrimp festival brought back the shrimp boil supplied by Fort Myers Beach shrimp king Erickson & Jensen Seafood and featured shrimp specials offered by more than a dozen island restaurants.
“Getting the Lions Club shrimp boil back again was big news this time,” Yelle said. “There were so many happy people enjoying the delicious pink gold.”
Following the parade, the shrimp festival princesses gathered at Bayside Veterans Park for the queen’s pageant. Gracie Stam, of Fort Myers Beach, bested a tough group of princesses to be named queen of the shrimp festival. Stam followed in the footsteps of her sister Emma, who won the title. Her oldest sister Chloe won the shrimp queen crown in 2018.
The competition involved the princesses answering questions from judges and taking part in a kids shrimp run, attending a formal, riding in Corvettes during the parade and then assembling at the park in bathing suits.
Stam told judges her goal was to open up a salon on Fort Myers Beach with her sister Emma after she completes cosmetology school.
The town has been without on since Hurricane Ian.
“I want to give back to the community that did so much for my family,” Stam said.
Stam, who was sponsored by The Property Medic, said she had wanted to be a pageant queen since growing up watching the parades and seeing her oldest sister win the title. “I wanted it forever,” she said. “It’s surreal.”
Stam said the most enjoyable part of the pageant was “meeting all the girls and making new friends.
Stam won not only the queen’s crown of the pageant, but also earned Miss Congeniality which was voted on by her peers. She won another trophy for the People’s Choice Award and for most photogenic.
Runner-up Maggie MacDiarmid, of Fort Myers Beach, said her goal was to study law and politics and eventually form a nonprofit that could assist communities devastated by natural disasters like the hurricanes that have affected Fort Myers Beach.
MacDiarmid, who is a senior at Fort Myers High School, said she was inspired by “seeing the resilience of the community after Hurricane Ian.”
While MacDiarmid finished second in the pageant contest, she did take home the “Miss Personality” award. “This means so much,” MacDiarmid said. MacDiarmid was sponsored by Fort Myers Detail Center, which her family runs.
Dylan LaForce, kept the LaForce theme of this year’s shrimp festival kicking when he took down the shrimp eating contest by knocking down three pounds of pink gold shrimp in just eight minutes.
The weekend started out with a 5K run in which more than 400 participants signed up to head up Matanzas Pass Bridge to the beach and back down again on a trying course.
Fort Myers Beach runner Andrew Bright bested nearly 400 participants in the Fort Myers Beach Lions Club Shrimp Festival Yo! Taco 5K presented by the Cypress Lake Athletic Department. Bright clocked in at 20:21, a full minute ahead of the runner-up. The top female runner was Stephy Ormsby of Fort Myers at 22:06.
Fort Myers Beach Chamber of Commerce President Jacki Liszak, who served as marshal of the parade, said business was “booming over the weekend.”
Liszak said the parade was one of the best-attended events on Fort Myers Beach and businesses reported “bustling business” with full restaurants and most lodging facilities at near capacity.
“Perfect weather, large crowds and a fantastic feeling was in the air,” Liszak said. “Fort Myers Beach is back.”
Yelle said the shrimp festival deepens “the connection to our community. Great support and participation from all our friends in Fort Myers Beach and Lee County.”
Darby Doerzbacher, on behalf of the members of the Fort Myers Beach Lions Club, said the club is “overwhelmingly grateful for all the community support that helped to produce the 67th annual Lions Club Shrimp Festival. We are blessed with a community that cares, and residents who are willing to give of themselves and come and help us with Fort Myers Beach’s best event ever. Without each and every one of you who stepped up to offer physical, monetary or professional assistance, we could not begin to undertake this endeavor.”
Doerzbacher said all of the proceeds raised by the Fort Myers Beach Lions Club “are given back to help those in need in this community and throughout the globe. Scholarships, vision care, disaster relief, childhood cancer, environmental causes and feeding the hungry are just a few of the ways we distribute our proceeds. Without all of you who volunteered to help we could not make this possible. We are overwhelmed with gratitude for all of you who help to make Fort Myers Beach a town to be proud of.”
“The festival was a great success,” Yelle said.
Fort Myers Beach Observer Editor Nathan Mayberg can be reached at NMayberg@breezenewspapers.com