Shrimp and Grits Festival 2010

I've been going crazy to get this post done.

Nothing like getting back into town and seeing your inbox. The Virtual one on your computer AND the Real one on your desk. Now I remember why I hardly ever go out of town. Whew. Catch up, catch up, catch up.

And why is it that the time at the beach flies by and Fridays at work drag?
Some kind of time warp.....

Anyhoo.....it's Friday at lunchtime and I've got to tell you about IT.

Y'all! IT was just so much fun.
IT being the 5th Annual Shrimp and Grits Festival at Jekyll Island this past weekend.
It was named one of the top festivals in the southeast, and I can see why. It had all the elements of a great fair. Great food. Great music. Great weather. Great arts and crafts. Great people. Great planning. A Super Great setting.

On the lawn of the Jekyll Island Club Hotel and throughout the Historic District, people converged.
Cooking people, crafty people, talented people, hungry people, happy people.
Young and Old.

I asked one guy who was working there: How many people do y'all expect? He said: Oh, this is a big festival. People think it's small, but it's a big deal. We're expecting over 600 people this year.
Now that is funny. I told him I thought it would be WAY OVER 600 this year.
He was young. And uninformed. (Reminds me of the Thanksgiving interviews of second graders about how to cook a turkey. "You put the oven on 50 degrees and  you....")

There were over 18,000 people there last year, and they were expecting more than that this year.

Friday night was "Sample Night." (Wow, has it already been a week?!)

That's a chance to taste lots of the various vendor's Shrimp and Grits. On Friday night, they sell samples for $3.00 each.

My favorite was from the Jekyll Island Hotel Club. That's bread you see on the left, by the way. The good part is beside it! Mmmm...Mmmm...Mmmm. This is exactly the way I like my Shrimp and Grits.

My second favorite was from Latitude 31. Everything fried. Yep, I LOVE the south~Even the grits were fried.

Close up of the fried grits.

Here's yet another plate I enjoyed.

Believe me, I know! I ate so much shrimp last weekend. Loved every bit of it. But, I haven't stepped on the scale since I've been home. In denial!

There was also a band playing almost all the time up on stage during the entire festival. Sometimes folks would dance.

One thing that made me laugh was how many different times I heard the song "Spooky." (In the cool of the evening when everything is getting kinda groovy.....youtube link ...) Anyway,  I think every single band played that song. Mayhaps it is the theme song for Jekyll Island?

There was a large area for arts and crafts booths under the huge oak trees. I wish I knew how many vendors were there. (If I asked the fellow I mentioned above he probably would have told me: "Wow. Way over 10.") I'm telling you---there were hundreds. And you wouldn't believe the talent represented there. Amazing. REALLY amazing.

And I've already bragged mentioned (was right the first time) bragged that I won the Overall Female Masters Award for the Challenge Races. WooHoo! I couldn't believe it. Honestly. I'm not a fast runner. Doing the happy dance here:

"I-won-a-bag-of-grits-I-won-a-bag-of-grits"

Truth is that I'm just lucky. Hey, I'll take lucky any old day. These races were filled with the nicest people. All the way up to the race director. Everyone was excited, yet laid back. The people who participated were friendly and light hearted. This series of races has got to be my favorite race yet that I've done.

In fact, I hope can go back every year to this FUN FESTIVAL! It earned it's reputation: it is definitely one of the best in the southeast. Now is not too soon to put it on my calendar. I need to train better next year for that killer 4-mile beach run. My knees still hurt....Ah well! I sure wish I had some of that delicious shrimp and grits tonight....daydreamin' again about our time in Jekyll.....got to get back to the rat race.