The Deering Seafood Festival, one of BizBash's Top 100 Events in South Florida and the largest annual fund-raiser for environmental and historical preserver Deering Estate at Cutler, held its eighth annual outing March 25. In addition to raising money for the preserve, the festival serves to raise the profile of one of South Florida's lesser-known natural spaces.
"We call this both our largest fund-raiser and our largest 'friend-raiser,'" said Mary Pettit, executive director of the Deering Foundation, the preserve's philanthropic arm, which oversees the festival. "We use the allure of fresh seafood and fun activities to get people in the gates and see this fantastic facility. Thirty to 35 percent of attendees are first-time visitors, and every year we have people who live just a mile or two away but have never been here before."
While the family-friendly festival has grown consistently since its inception, "bigger and better" is not necessarily the goal. Deering Foundation is more concerned with putting on the estate's best face for the public.
"Last year we were pushing 10,000 people, which is a little too crowded for us," Pettit said. "The quality of the experience remains our top priority, and overcrowding can affect that, so we're looking for a balance between raising funds and putting on a great day."
To keep things from getting too crowded, the foundation raised adult ticket prices this year, from $20 to $25, but kept the advance-sale level at $15. That tactic succeeded in bringing attendance down by about 20 percent, which was the goal, to 7,500 people.
The day included a seafood cook-off between local celebrity chefs, and a new component this year added into the mix a student chef from Johnson & Wales University who had won a pre-competition contest among his peers. There was also an artists' village, boat rides, and a kids' zone with a palm tree climb and 120-foot slide shaped like a kraken (a giant octopus-like creature). Musical entertainment had a Caribbean theme, with the Pan Paradise steel drum band, the Carnival Crew band, and the Virgin Island Stilt Walkers setting the party atmosphere.
Final fund-raising numbers were not available, but the foundation estimated levels would approach the haul brought in last year, despite the smaller crowd.
"Everyone left happy," Pettit said. "And that is the most important thing to us."