By LINDSEY ADKISON
Reposted from TheBrunswickNews.com
When the Foreback family heard about the Jekyll Island Shrimp and Grits festival, they knew it was something they couldn’t pass up. In fact, they made it a focal point of their fall vacation.
“We’re from the Atlanta area and our girls go to school year around and they have fall break now. When we called the Jekyll Island Club Hotel to register for our hotel, they told us about the festival,” Pam Foreback said.
“We thought it would be fun. So we brought our dogs down and we’re having a great time.”
The Forebacks weren’t the only ones drawn to the event. Hundreds of people descended on the tiny island for fun, music and, of course, the food.
On Friday night, vendors lined the pathways throughout the historic district, selling everything from candles to furniture.

But they weren’t just there to sell their wares.
Pam Foot and her husband work for Logan Turnpike Mill and drove eight hours from Blairsville to take part. They were hoping to combine a little business with pleasure.
“We were invited by the Jekyll Island Club. A lot of chefs use our grits for their recipes,” Foot said.
“There really is no down side to it. It’s like a vacation for us. I haven’t been to the beach in a really long time.”
Throughout the weekend, the mood was light. Events included shrimp eating contests, music and cooking contests.
On Saturday and Sunday, there were BMX Bike demonstrations. There were also shows by the Disc-Connected K9 Frisbee Dogs.
One of the weekend’s highlights was a release by the Georgia Sea Turtle Center.
Hundreds of spectators hit the beach to watch three rehabilitated amphibians, Pumpkin, Skidaway and Nightwatch return to the ocean.
Camden County residents Erica Crews and her young daughters, Julie Ann and Andy, were on hand to wish them luck.
“We recently visited the turtle center, so I wanted the girls to see it,” Crews said.
As a whole, the expanded festival seemed a rousing success.
Jekyll Island spokesperson Eric Garvey said even though no numbers are in, this year’s event was likely the largest ever.
“It looks like this year’s event was up about 20 to 30 percent over last year and the weekend total will approach 15,000 to the festival,” he said.
“The additional activities were planned to give everyone a better festival experience with plenty to do and to bring people back for several days. We planned the additional activities because we anticipated a larger crowd this year. The festival has received tremendous publicity, so we were expecting large crowds.”
One of the new features of the weekend was a shuttle service that took patrons from the parking area of at the Jekyll Island Convention Center to the festival area in the Historic District.
Garvey said that it ran relatively smoothly.
“The shuttle system worked very well. Like any transportation system, there are bugs to be worked out. This was our first organized shuttle system on this scale and with more revitalization projects beginning this year, we will be utilizing shuttles to manage parking and move people around the island,” he said.
“Guests seemed to have no problem with it and it allowed use to utilize more of the Historic District for festival activities.”
Contest winners:
* The professional cooking contest award went to Cargo Portside Grill.
* The People’s Choice winner was Tasteful Temptations.
Tags: cooking competition, jekyll island, Jekyll Island Events, jekyll island hotels, shrimp and grits, shrimp festival, turtle release
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nice and peacefull relaxing ……