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The Boggy
Bayou Mullet Festival is more then your average seafood
festival – much, much, more! The annual festival in
Niceville, Florida always promises a great time for the
entire family with big-name entertainment, the highest
quality fine art and home hand-crafts, numerous
exhibits, and a staggering array of food concessions.
More than
40,000 hungry mullet fans will consume up to 10 tons of
this humble fish during the three-day festival (if you'd
like to help us catch it and clean it, show up a few
days early!).
To understand the significance of the festival, you must
go back to the days when the small town of Niceville was
a happy little fishing village called Boggy Bayou.
In those days, local fisherman poled flat-bottomed
skiffs out into the bay at night, listened for the
jumping mullet and cast their nets. They salted and
preserved the fish in barrels, sold what they could,
traded some to farmers from the Panhandle area and
Alabama (35 miles north) for vegetables, and ate the
rest. The fishing industry, relying substantially on
mullet, kept Boggy Bayou alive.
Times have
changed but not the special affinity held by residents
for their ever-present mullet.
The annual
festival honoring the mullet began in 1976 as a small
event unheard of outside of Niceville. Today, the Mullet
Festival is one of the South's most celebrated
festivals.
For many
folks living in and around Niceville, the Mullet
Festival is a reunion of sorts. It's an event that
brings the townsfolk together at the same time and place
every year, allowing them to renew old friendships and
celebrate with their neighbors.
For others,
it's an opportunity to have some family fun with the
kids. The festival caters to families and always keeps
the youngsters entertained with such things as clowns,
pony rides and other fun attractions.
The Boggy
Bayou Mullet Festival has become one of the South's best
known country music events. In recent years the Festival
has featured nationally known country acts in a small,
festival atmosphere.
Of course
everyone who comes to the Mullet Festival has something
to eat! With an incredible variety of menu selections
from dozens of concessions, everyone is sure to find a
tempting treat to try. Seafood, international foods,
Cajun and country cooking, and other festival fare will
be available in great variety and abundance!
A few menu
items aside from fried and smoked mullet have included
such diverse choices as sautéed garlic herbed shrimp,
alligator on a stick, crawfish bread, Oysters
Rockefeller, BBQ, shrimp tempura, and hot apple
dumplings with ice cream. There are many interesting
non-alcoholic drinks, frozen drinks, coffee drinks, and
soft frozen drinks.
 A
large arts and crafts show will make for some unique
Christmas shopping between eating and watching the
entertainment. This is a juried show which features only
original, high-quality work. All exhibitors are eligible
for the "Best of Show" Purchase Award. Also, hand-made
or decorated clothing will be available in the Boutique
section.
The admission price
includes all the
entertainment. Parking is free.
The Mullet
Festival is located at the intersection of Hwy 85 N and
College Blvd., about 1/2 mile north of Niceville.
To find the
festival from outside the local area, exit Interstate 10
at Crestview (about 50 miles east of Pensacola), and
turn south on Hwy 85. After a 15-minute drive on Hwy 85,
the festival will be clearly visible on the left. No
coolers, pets or glass containers are permitted
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