EVENTS
A Shrimp Celebration Sneads Ferry Shrimp Festival, a part of the Sneads Ferry community for 51 years and the official N.C. Shrimp Festival for 11 years, is coming up in October. BY PAT FONTANA | PHOTOS COURTESY SNEADS FERRY SHRIMP FESTIVAL
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What began as a gathering of shrimp boat captains to honor a small fishing village in 1971 has grown into an annual event that is now recognized as the official shrimp festival of North Carolina. In May 2011, the N.C. General Assembly signed a bill into law that designated the Sneads Ferry Shrimp Festival as the State Shrimp Festival, explaining that “Sneads Ferry Shrimp Festival has grown into a great marketing and promotional tool for the Sneads Ferry community, Onslow County, and eastern North Carolina.” The 51st Sneads Ferry Shrimp Festival will be held October 21 and 22, 2022, on the grounds of the Community Center in the heart of the growing fishing village. Jonathan Koziol, newly appointed Shrimp Festival chair, says that when the festival started, “it was just a bunch of the shrimp boat captains and fisheries that wanted to get together and have an event for the
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community.” He estimates that attendance at the two-day festival last year was around 15,000. There have been many changes to the event over the past 50 years, but one constant remains a significant part of the event. Bernice Guthrie, the official historian of the Shrimp Festival, has attended all but one of the festivals since 1971 and is still an active
Eating locally caught shrimp is the highlight of the Sneads Ferry Shrimp Festival, but there's so much more to do, including rides and games, a parade, educational activities, live music, fireworks and more. The festival will be held on October 21 and 22.
