Downbeach Seafood Festival

VENTNOR – After seven years at Gardner’s Basin and Bader Field in Atlantic City, the Seafood Festival has found a new home in a smaller venue – Ski Beach on the bay at Dorset Avenue. The team at Good Time Tricycle will hold the newly renamed, “Downbeach Seafood Festival,” 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 7.

The event features seafood offerings from more than 25 local and regional seafood restaurants and food purveyors, along with festival fun, music and contests.

Organizer Jon Henderson said the venue change would give festival goers an opportunity to enjoy other seaside communities as culinary destinations.

Foodies and fun seekers will sample the culinary creations of chefs and restaurants offering seafood dishes from calamari to clams, oysters to ahi, and alligator too. Featured will be local seafood, a craft beer tent, music, family fun and more.

September is National Hunger Month so the Downbeach Seafood Festival will participate in the Feeding America campaign by supporting the Community FoodBank of New Jersey through its Chowder Cook-off, which allows participants to sample chowders from the finest restaurants with all proceeds going to the food bank.

Other activities include sand sculpting, Kid’s Zone street games, Atlantic City Aquarium touch tank, amusements, cooking demonstrations by celebrity chefs, South Pacific Island Dancers, crab cake eating competition and a pet costume contest.

Entry fee is $10 per person, but those arriving at the Ski Beach boat ramp on kayaks get a $5 discount. Children under 12 are free. Food entrees will be priced from $4 to $11. Parking is available at the Tropicana lot next to Ventnor Plaza shopping center on Wellington Avenue with a shuttle service to and from the festival. Overflow parking will be available at the baseball fields on Surrey Avenue

For tickets and information, see acseafoodfest.com or facebook.com/DownbeachSeafoodFest


Nanette LoBiondo Galloway

Award winning journalist covering news, events and people of Atlantic County for more than 20 years.