Posts Tagged ‘ Uncle Bubba ’
Highly Anticipated 3rd Annual “Shrimp & Grits: The Wild Georgia Shrimp Festival” Kicks Off September 19
Friday, September 12th, 2008
Join the Jekyll Island Authority, the Georgia Shrimp Association, and the Georgia Tourism Foundation for the only event in the Southeast dedicated to celebrating two southern favorites – shrimp and grits!
Set amid Jekyll Island’s picturesque Jekyll Island Club National Landmark Historic District, “Shrimp & Grits: The Wild Georgia Shrimp Festival,” will kick off on Friday, Sept. 19, at 5:30 p.m. Festivities will continue throughout the weekend, beginning Saturday at 10:00 a.m. and Sunday at noon. All entertainment is free and open to the public.
The popular annual festival features delicious food, exciting shrimp & grits cooking competitions, great music, and a vendor area complete with arts, crafts, antiques, and collectables. “Uncle Bubba,” the brother of southern celebrity-chef Paula Deen, will even make a special guest appearance on Saturday from 10:00 AM-12:00 noon. And to add to the excitement, guests can participate in the 3rd Annual Wild Georgia Golf Tournament, take fun-filled shrimp boat excursions, and play in the “Family Fun Zone” created just for kids.
Wild Georgia Shrimp & Grits Cooking Competition:
The Wild Georgia Shrimp & Grits Cooking Competition events will offer mouth-watering tasting opportunities of more than a dozen shrimp & grits dishes prepared by amateur and professional chefs throughout the region. Guests can sign-up to be part of the esteemed “Consumer Choice Panel” to taste the dishes and select the winners of either the professional or amateur competition for a fee of $25.00 per person.
Christopher Hewitt of Savannah’s Olde Pink House will be back this year to defend his title as the “Best Professional Shrimp & Grits Chef.” He’ll face stiff competition from more than eight other professional chefs from Jekyll and surrounding areas. The competition for the 2008 professional title begins at noon on Sunday. The competition for the best amateur chef will take place on Saturday at 10:00 a.m.
During the festival visitors will also have the opportunity to purchase delicious shrimp & grits dishes from outstanding local restaurants and vendors, including the Jekyll Island Club Hotel, Latitude 31 Restaurant and Raw Bar, Zachary’s Seafood, and the Wild Georgia Shrimp Association. Prices for individual dishes will vary. A variety of other food and dishes will be also available throughout the festival.
Cooking Demonstrations:
Chef Steve Ingersoll, chef/instructor at the Coastal Georgia College in Kingsland, Ga., will host a cooking demonstration Saturday from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m.
Chef Stephanie Donegan, the cooking star of “Raising Alabama,” will also demonstrate preparation of an outstanding shrimp & grits recipe from her newest southern soul food cookbook, Living a Life of Southern Soul. The demonstration begins at 3:00 on Sunday.
Live, Free Entertainment:
Throughout the weekend the Jekyll Island Club National Landmark Historic District will ring with the musical talents of many favorite local bands, including King City Jazz, Dirty Hairys, the Jeff Beasley Band, OSKAR Rockhammer, Spice of Life, and Straight No Chaser. Saturday evening, beginning at 7 p.m., guest can enjoy the live music of popular blues band, Statesboro Blues.
Special Appearance by “Uncle Bubba” – Brother to Celebrity Chef Paula Deen
No southern festival would be complete without someone named “Bubba,” and we’ve got the best! ”Uncle Bubba,” author of the popular Uncle Bubba’s Savannah Seafood Cookbook, will be on hand. Between 10 a.m. and noon on Saturday he’ll host a book signing. Visitors can bring a copy of the cook book so he can autograph it, or it can be purchased onsite.
Uncle Bubba’s Oyster House restaurant in Savannah, Ga., which he co-owns with his sister Paula Deen, features many delectable seafood creations ranging from chargrilled oysters to “Aunt Peggy’s” fried catfish platter. “Y’all know that my family and I have never been what you might call “fancy eaters,” said Bubba. “Growing up in southwest Georgia, we never had white tablecloths or silver candlesticks. We just wanted to eat good food, laugh a lot, and have a good time. When Paula and I opened the doors to Uncle Bubba’s, we had one mission in mind. That was to provide our guests with the finest quality meal available in a friendly, comfortable atmosphere.”
Disconnected K9 Frisbee Dog Show
On both Saturday and Sunday, be sure to “catch” the Disconnected K9 frisbee dog show at 10:00 AM, 1:00 PM and 4:00 PM. Trainer Lawrence Frederick started out playing in human Frisbee competitions until he discovered the disc dog world in 1991. Now, not only are Lawrence and his team of incredible dogs the most widely recognized Frisbee Dog Team in the world, but he made history by being the first human to compete with two dogs at the same time in the World Frisbee Dog Championships in 2003;
and then became the first human to compete with three dogs in the same year in the World Frisbee Dog Championships in 2006; and then again in 2007. All of their shows are family oriented; carry a message of fun, athleticism, canine bonding, and promote dog rescuing.
3rd Annual Shrimp & Grits Commemorative Poster Competition:
The commemorative poster and the official tee shirt for the 3rd Annual Shrimp & Grits Festival will display the beautiful artwork of Mrs. Ed Hose of Brunswick, GA.
The elaborate details, imagination, and brilliant colors of her art persuaded the judges to select her entry over scores of other excellent submissions. Posters and t-shirts will be on sale at the festival. Mrs. Hose’s winning artwork can be viewed by visiting www.jekyllisland.com.
3rd Annual Wild Georgia Golf tournament:
The 3rd Annual Wild Georgia Golf Tournament tees off Friday, Sept. 19, at 12:30 p.m. at Jekyll Island’s Oleander Golf Course. Each first-place winner will receive as a prize five pounds of fresh Wild Georgia Shrimp. Second and third-place winners will each receive three pounds of the prized local shrimp. Call 635-2368 to register. The fee is $65.00 per person.
Boating Excursions:
Throughout the festival weekend, guests will have the opportunity to experience several exciting boating excursions.
Captain Larry Credle’s “Lady Jane” shrimp boat offers an authentic shrimping experience. The two-hour voyages along the Marshes of Glynn were made famous by the poet Sidney Lanier. Guests will watch for dolphins, shorebirds, and minks.
They will also have the opportunity to observe the crew deploy the shrimp net and retrieve a bountiful catch of various sea life, including shrimp, crabs, fish, horseshoe crabs, man-o-rays, and much more.
Captain Credle started shrimping with his dad in his early teens. By the age of fourteen he was working with a fleet of five vessels, and in 1979 he became captain of his own shrimp boat. For nearly 30 years, he has given guests interesting, enjoyable, and educational shrimp excursions aboard the Lady Jane.
According to Credle, “The day’s catch is like Christmas, because you never know what’s in the net’s bag!” While guests aboard the Lady Jane relax, take pictures, and learn, the crew will prepare a fresh shrimp boil from the day’s catch. Nothing beats the taste of fresh-out-of-the-water, sweet, white Georgia shrimp!
To book an unforgettable experience on Lady Jane, call 912-265-5711 or e-mail Captain Credle at captain@shrimpcruise.com.
Guests can book off-shore fishing trips aboard a 44-foot “Ospo” fishing boat, or enjoy Shrimping-Dolphin tours throughout the weekend. The Shrimping-Dolphin tours are 90 minutes in length and offer a fun and ecological education. Passengers are taken through the coastal marshlands and rivers, and trawl nets and pulled along the bottom of the water by the boat. The tour crew discussed different topics on ecology and environmental issues that impact the coastal estuary, and when the trawl net is pulled up, a bounty of species are available for discussion by the crew. The crew also keeps an eye out for Dolphin friends that love to visit the boat.
For more information on Shrimping-Dolphin tours, contact 912-635-3512 or visit www.goldenislesfun.com. For more information on the off shore excursion, call 912-270-7474 or visit www.offshore-charters.com.
More Information:
For more information about Shrimp & Grits: The Wild Georgia Shrimp & Grits Festival, contact the Jekyll Island Welcome Center at 1-877-4-JEKYLL, or visit www.jekyllisland.com/shrimpandgrits.
Shrimp & Grits - Somethin’ Big!
Tuesday, September 18th, 2007I hope all of you had a chance to enjoy Shrimp & Grits: The Wild Georgia Shrimp Festival this past weekend. If you did not, you missed out on some great food, great fun and, for me, a great team in action. I can’t say enough about our team, and about our event leader Beth Burnsed.
We also have a great partner is this event, the Georgia Shrimp Association. With GSA’s help, we were able to secure our celebrity chef Uncle Bubba. Bubba was a big hit, selling out autograph books in less that two hours.
And our other partners - Georgia Tourism, Coca-Cola, Michelob/Budweiser, Jim Dandy, Brunswick Toyota, AT&T, Golden Isles Nissan, Ameris Bank, Stratton Hall, Jekyll Island Club Hotel, Latitude 31/Rah Bar - made an event of this size possible.
We also appreciate the work of Monkey Love Media and GCI Group for getting the word out, we had some great event coverage.
Our visitation numbers put the crowd for the weekend event at 11,800. We’ll be getting a full report together soon - and begin work on next year’s festival!
