The Ever Fabulous Everglades Seafood Festival

The Everglades Seafood Festival has been going on for 56 years now. But only in recent years has it been staged by the terrific trio of Carrie Doxsee, Holly Dudley, and Kelly Kirk, who are taking the event to all new levels. This year’s festival was undoubtedly aided by the return of terrific weather with daytime highs hovering around 70 and evenings in the 60s. But it’s the wholesome community feel, plenty of excellent food choices—seafood and otherwise—and a nice selection of carnival rides for all ages, that are sure to keep people coming back.

Doxsee was still looking fresh at 8:30 PM Friday, February 13, the first day of the three-day event. She was making the rounds on her KingQuad all-terrain vehicle.

"We are hosting for the fifth year in a row for the Florida Stone Crab Association,” Doxsee said. "It's organized chaos,” she laughs. The three ladies are also directors for the Florida Stone Crab Association. And as most locals know, Everglades City is considered the Stone Crab Capitol of the World.

With Southwest Florida experiencing one of its coldest winters in decades, Doxsee and her fellow directors were surely hoping for the kind of weather they ended up with.

"The weather was definitely an issue and a major concern for sure,” she said. "This crowd is amazing. Our vendors have been amazing. We really have no complaints. We haven't had many hiccups.”

The festival started Friday afternoon with great local flavor. Naples-based singer Maddy Benner delivered a strong rendition of the National Anthem. Everglades City cheerleaders, elementary school-aged to high schoolers, entertained the appreciative crowd. Then two local teachers with a combined 98 years of teaching in Everglades City were honored with awards of distinction.

Paul Tribble has taught at Everglades City School since graduating from the University of Florida in 1972.

"I asked the Lord to open only one door and leave all the others closed,” Tribble said, "because if there were two doors open, I might get confused and make the wrong choice. When I graduated there was only one job opening in the state. Just one. And it was here.”

Tribble, who has loved his career in Everglades City, almost retired in 2014.

“I’d had a stroke,” he said. "I retired. I said, 'Lord, I'm done.' I said, 'I'm not going back to Everglades unless they call me.' The phone rang and they said, 'Mr. Tribble, we need an art teacher and we want you to return if you're interested.' So, I'm back now, till the end of this year. No regrets. There's a whole lot of love, man.”

After the presentation, Tribble was mobbed by former students, from five to 50-something. “Everywhere I look I see my students,” he said.

Becky Welch, better known as Coach, has been on the job for 46 years. It sometimes seems like she coaches all of the sports at the school. She was visibly moved during the ceremony. One student in the crowd said. “Aw, Coach is crying.” Her friend nodded her head and said, “Yeah.” She was still emotional after leaving the stage where she and Tribble had been joined by the school’s cheerleaders and various members of the school staff and community.

Everglades City School principal Cheryl Allison was happy to pinch-hit for the coach.

"I just wanted to say that we're blessed,” Allison said. "I don't think there's any other school that has not just one, but two people who have not just given their careers but committed their lives to a school and to its students. These people have taught generations: grandparents, parents, and grandchildren. And it's the one school that parents look up at the teachers and say, 'I had him and I had her also.' So, we're very blessed. And Coach Welch is not allowed to leave. I can only do one at a time. She won't say the R (retire) word yet. She's not going. Not yet."

The close-knit community of Everglades City is on full display during the seafood festival. It’s easy to tell the locals from the tourists. The locals, for the most part, are the ones with babes in arms, teenagers walking hand in hand wearing blue jeans and ball caps, grandchildren pushing grandparents in wheelchairs. All are greeting each other with familiarity and friendliness. That sense of community is what makes Everglades City unique.

“We're a very small school,” Allison said, "but with a very huge heart. There's culture and community and a bond here that you can't get anywhere else."