Johns Pass Seafood Festival

The 34^th Annual John’s Pass Seafood Festival was held in Madeira Beach at the end of October. I was surprised that I had never heard of this festival, because it was so crowded on the main strip that it was hard to walk without running into someone!
It was extremely difficult to figure out where to pick up VIP tickets. I was told to find them at will call. however, there was no will call to be found. I tried the volunteer sign up booth and they sent me to the food ticket booth. The booths selling tickets for food had no idea what I was talking about. I tried a different person at the volunteer tent and eventually received my two passes. My next hurdle was figuring out where and how to use the tickets! It included a free meal from South Beach Grill, which I eventually did find. It was a hassle figuring out the situation, but we had an overflowing basket of crawfish and a fried gator & shrimp basket to make up for it.
I thought the food was really good and there was more than just seafood. We split a Cuban sandwich before leaving and even ordered another crawfish platter to take home. For the most part, it was all food vendors but there were a few arts and crafts booths mixed in between. I think making people use tickets for food instead of cash was a waste of time; that’s one of my biggest pet peeves about festivals. The prices were a little exorbitant, but I tried to keep in mind that seafood is never cheap and the portions were generous.
My best tips are to arrive early to avoid the traffic jam, scout out an unoccupied area to sit, and send someone else in your group off to wait in food lines. There’s plenty to see and lots of entertainment throughout the day, so get out and enjoy some decent food and a nice day at the beach!

The festival is fun and well attended and John’s Pass is a good location. We went Saturday afternoon 10÷24÷15. The food is not good. $ 6 & $ 4 beers and $ 6 mixed drinks are OK but charging $ 15 for the worst coconut shrimp I’ve ever had is not OK. It’s not just that the conditions for food prep are difficult. They are. I understand that, but when you present a coconut shrimp skewer with tons of batter and very little tiny shrimp inside them I have to complain. They are selling thousands of these things at a premium price. The least you could do is start with a better product. We had a party of four ordering different items from different vendors and all were less than average. I’ve been to quite a few of these seafood fests now and I believe I’ve eaten my last bite. We talked about it after we left and decided that next year we’ll attend and have a couple of drinks but before we go we’ll hit the fish market and load a cooler with shrimp, clams and lobsters and cook our own when we get home. Guaranteed it will be better and probably cheaper.

The city closed the public restrooms wash stands have no water. Less than 10 food vendors, none local, just traveling fair type outfits. Standard craft show booths. Not worth fighting beach traffic and ridiculous limited parking. 6 $ for ½ cup «joes» Italian ice

I agree no public restrooms. No where to wash your hands. All the booths had pretty much the same food. It doesn’t even promote the businesses on the beach. The best entertainment was at the tiki hut. All in all. Don’t waste your time. Oh and the parking situation was ridiculous.

Spent a couple hours walking around, looking at vendors, and appreciating all that Johns Pass has to offer.
This festival gets packed! I would suggest parking at the school that they advertise on their facebook page to park at. It was only $ 5 and they shuttle people back and forth. We were lucky and never waited more than 15 minutes for a shuttle.
There are a ton of great vendors selling a lot of beachy products. If it gets too hot you can walk in and out of the shops that are always at Johns Pass. There are a lot of great shops there. If I was decorating a house in a beach theme, this is definitely where I would go.
There was a lot of great food options. Overall this was a great way to spend part of the day.

Parking and traffic was a nightmare. Ended up parking 4 blocks away on Treasure Island and walking over the bridge as the $ 15 parking lots were all full closer to the event and we got tired of looking after 20 minutes of driving around. They should have had people directing traffic to the available parking spots. It was just a traffic jam of people looking for spots. There are No local vendors, just travelling carnie folk all selling the same deep fried seafood and jambalaya garbage. Food was incredible low grade for the price $ 13 for a tiny coconut shrimp skewers, $ 16 for a grouper sandwich, $ 20 for jambalaya, $ 25 for crab legs? I’d rather go to sit down restaurant on the water with air conditioning and a view with healthier grilled options, and lower prices than eating some deep fried food on the side walk and fighting these crowds. We ended up having fried greasy catfish, dry jambalaya, and crawfish from South Beach Grill as part of our VIP experience and it was the worst seafood I ever had. When we got there they were out of food with only 6 people on the patio. We had to wait 20 minutes for them to bring food. Management could have been more proactive in preventing such a long gap without food. The tickets said seating was air conditioned and it was not. To add insult to injury, they did not have tartar sauce, cocktail sauce or garlic butter to go with the seafood and it definitely needed it. To over-​complicate matters and trick tourists into spending more money, vendors don’t take cash so you have to 1) see what you like, 2) wait in a line for tickets, 3) go back to the vendor, 4) wait in line to get food, 5) eat food on the sidewalk or uncomfortable benches.
Better alternative: Do yourself a favor by avoiding this tourist trap, and go next door to Hooters with $ 2.50 beers, beautiful waterside views, air conditioning, actual table service, hooters lol, and $ 10 grilled Mahi mahi fish tacos!
Pros: live music wasn’t terrible at Johns Pass Seafood Festival but it was more like an amateur who’s got talent lol. There was no full band there, just 1 chick still wearing braces lol. Crab races were nice for the kids, hooters next door on the water is an awesome alternative to the Johns Pass Seafood Festival. The beach across the street from this event is nice too

Many big corporately owned booths that all look like they bought their signage at the same place all selling the same dishes. These same booths all tried to sell me a giant plate of food. Nobody comes to these things to eat a whole plate of food. They come to walk around and sample. Get that!
$ 11 for two coconut shrimp skewers, some rice and iceberg lettuce salad.
I found it strange that a shitty strip mall Chinese restaurant had a booth. How does that even qualify for a booth at a seafood festival?
There was only one booth I found that seemed even remotely independent or local or selling locally sourced seafood. It was a couple selling awesome fish tacos, ceviche and kick ass lobster mac n cheese. I gave them all my money and spent the rest on booze.

Johns Pass Seafood Festival is a great way to get to know what all John’s Pass has for you. John’s Pass is a full entertainment shopping district with dining, bars, music, shopping, and opportunities to take boat tour, or rent wave runners.
John’s Pass Seafood Festival specifically is held at the end of October. They have a number of local seafood vendors that sell their cooked seafood in an enticing way, stacked up like mountains of colorful goodness.
Best bet if you come early, it may be a bit fresher than if you were to come in the afternoon or evening when it has been sitting around. What I don’t like most about these types of fests is that you have to buy tickets to get food. With tickets, you get stuck with excess tickets where you have to buy more tickets to finish what you have already purchased.
The good part about these festivals is that you wait in a line sometimes long or short, and then you have your food right then and there.
At the seafood festival, you will also see a lot of local craft vendors, and you will see different street performers. It is always nice to stroll around to see what all is going on around you.
This festival amongst others that are held here are very popular and can be crowded. It can be fun for those who want to see where all the action is taking place, but overwhelming to those who hate crowds, and having to fend for parking.
It’s a great opportunity to get to go to seafood festival, but if you do not get to it, they have other festivals throughout the year like the John LeVique Pirate festival just to name one off the top of my head.