Red, White & Roux

            The first Apalachicola Seafood Festival was Nov. 2, 1963. I was 11.

            Daddy was still alive and so was President Kennedy. The Vietnam War had not heated up. There was no draft. The Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis were behind us. Franklin County schools were still segregated by race. There was no bridge to St. George Island. The Beatles wouldn't make their American appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show until February.

            In that early time of the festival's birth, there was no fence around Battery Park requiring paid admission. The community pitched in and served free fried mullet dinners to hundreds of people Yes, I said free. Generous hospitality and pride in our seafood was the order of the day. Along with my pre-teen friends, I worked the food line ladling up servings of grits.

            I see it as the last of the old ways. My life and the nation were soon to change abruptly. Later that month the President would be assassinated, my father would drown in the river at Four Tree Cutoff, and Lyndon Johnson would confirm the United States' continued support of Vietnam both militarily and economically.

            Maybe I' m reading too much into this, but the timing of it all just struck me as I was thinking about Seafood Festival history. And there is a history – 46 years of it and more.

            I believe it all really started in the early Fifties with the Rivercade and Harbor Day.

            Back then, there was an Apalachicola Boat Club. Members would either make a run up the river to Chattahoochee or trailer their boats up and spend the night. The ride back down the river to Apalach took anywhere from six to eight hours. There were no big horsepower motors then. My Uncle Louis said the first trip was made with a 10-horse Mercury. Eldon Schoelles remembered a 33 Evinrude on a later run. The boaters would stop in Blountstown for a lunch cookout and refueling.

            The participants arrived home to Harbor Day celebrations with a duly elected Miss Apalachicola, an enormous feast with fried seafood and chicken perloo, and a big dance at the Armory. Everything was free.

            The names of the organizers and the participants bring back memories: Roy Smith, Homer Marks, Royce Rolstad, Jimmy Mahon, Maurice Roberts, Earl Creamer, Elzie Little, Snookie Barber, James Floyd, Harry Papadopoulos, Bobby Howell, Louis Roux, Eldon Schoelles, and my dad, Steve Roux.

            Eldon's wife, Ruth, was Miss Apalachicola in 1952. Her title was her ticket to go on to compete for Miss Florida. That meant a trip to Pensacola. “Mama just couldn't afford it,” Ruth said.

            The Rivercade and Harbor Day led to the Seafood Festival of today.

            The tradition of wide-open hospitality, generosity, volunteerism, and pride in our local seafood continues.

            There are locals who leave town to attend Mule Day somewhere in Georgia, or lock their doors and stay home, away from the crowds and tourists. I understand that attitude, but I don't buy into it.

            From that first festival in 1963 until today, I have worked food booths, sold t-shirts, sold oysters on the half shell, built floats, sold books, judged a cooking contest, and worked at Trinity church making crab casserole. Any local who participates has a similar list. There are many who have done much more.

            In my family, festival is also homecoming. For years we have hosted a come one-come all party. First with Mama as the hostess, later me, and now, my sister. Bring food, bring drink, bring friends, and come enjoy the best part of living here, being from here, or visiting here.

            Welcome visitors, welcome friends, welcome family. The best things in life are free.

            Denise Roux is a regular columnist for the Apalachicola and Carrabelle Times. To reach her, email her at rouxwhit@mchsi.com