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9th Hilton Head Island Seafood Festival

I think it is safe to say we have survived another less than brutal winter and find ourselves on the door step of festival season in Savannah and the Low Country of South Carolina. One solid indicator is the fact that I found myself watching the final 40 laps of the Daytona 500 last weekend and thought “Yup, NASCAR and golf season is upon us.” It wasn’t long after that I gave some thought to attending the RBC Heritage on Hilton Head Island. That is always a good time. As is any festival event on the island. More times than not, the bigger events are well run and enjoyable. The Hilton Head Seafood Festival is certainly one of them. Especially with the direction it is headed in.

Clayton Rollison is Executive Chef and owner at one of the more progressive restaurants on the island, Lucky Rooster. It’s a fantastic breath of fresh air for Hilton Head Island’s food scene. Before he opened, he was working at the very popular Hudson’s Seafood on the island. There, he got to chatting with one of the seafood festival’s founders Andrew Carmines. “Once I got this place open” Rollison said “We started talking about the seafood festival and how to evolve it.” “We wanted to make it more in line with some of the more trendy festivals that are going on around the country.” he added.

Now the word ‘trendy’ could scare some people away. Personally, I embrace it for what it represents more so than for what it is. Now in its 9th year, the festival is clearly growing. But how it grows into something different than what this island has seen in the past is very much a part of the discussion. Progress is good, always. “We didn’t want to do the food and wine thing because we wanted to stay true to the festival’s roots and what it has always been.” Clayton says. As a result, this years line up for the Hilton Head Island Seafood Festival is a little different than it has been in the past, but it all culminates with the big open air Saturday afternoon seafood extravaganza in Shelter Cover Park.

“This year we are doing a Beefsteak dinner on Thursday. We are doing an oyster roast and BBQ on Friday.” Clayton tells me. You can tell he is excited about this. The scene he describes for Friday night’s Oyster Roast and Pig Picking are really unlike anything the island has scene before. Oysters, whole hogs, chickens and all the sides you can imagine set up at Honey Horn Plantation.  Savannah’s Service Brewing Company will be pouring their great product and there will be live music as well. “We are kind of turning the whole thing into a Southern lifestyle event as well.” That was my money quote right there.

The Carmine Family has worked for years to build this event into something fantastic for the island. There is no lack of local support for the festival, which raises money for the David Carmines Foundation and the Island Recreation Association. But much like his restaurant does, Clayton Rollison’s shot in the arm is really allowing the festival to develop into something different than most other festival on the island. Yes, there will be food. Yes, there will be beer and wine, but clearly the creative envelope is being pushed. Last year I attended a 7 course seafood and wine dinner at Lucky Rooster as a part of this festival and was just blown away by how good it was. One of the best dinners I’ve attended in some time. The culinary creativity is there. The roots of a home grown festival are there as well. Together they are capable of doing much much more than we’ve seen so far.

Risk? Not really. We know that Low Country residents like what they like and many times can have difficulty adapting to too much change. This group isn’t at all phased by that. “For the longest time, everyone always said you can’t do this on Hilton Head.” Clayton says. “And for a long time, that held true. People were afraid to take those risks.” he adds. “But Andrew and I have always been of the same mindset. Give us one reason to say yes. We are going to focus on that one thing and we are going to run with it.”

“The goal is to grow this into a very large regional event where people will travel here in the early spring to enjoy.”

Sounds like they are off and running already.

For a full list of events at the 9th Annual Hilton Head Seafood Festival, with tickets as low as $6 for Saturday or $35 for the other bigger events, click here.

See you on TV,

Jesse

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