WHEN: SATURDAY, MARCH 6, 10AM - 5PM
WHERE: ON THE SPONGE DOCKS (DODECANESE BLVD BETWEEN HOPE AND ROOSEVELT STREETS), TARPON SPRINGS, FL 34689.
DETAILS: On Saturday, March 6, from 10am to 5pm, the City of Tarpon Springs presents the first Gulf Maritime Festival. As one of Florida’s few remaining downtown working waterfronts, Tarpon Springs is the best venue to showcase Gulf Coast maritime folklife from Cortez to Cedar Key to Apalachicola. Demonstrators will explore sponge diving & sponge processing; making diving helmets, sponging equipment, mullet nets, cast nets, crab traps; mullet smoking, clam farming, boat building, oyster shucking, and much more. The free festival will also present arts associated with Gulf maritime communities, such as music, dance, and foodways, as well as interviews with those involved in maritime activities. National Heritage Fellow Nicholas Toth (diving helmets) will be among the participants from Tarpon Springs. The Florida Maritime Museum in Cortez will bring examples of several Florida boats they are building in their workshop. The Gulf Maritime Festival will be followed by Night in the Islands, a free event on the Sponge Docks. Enjoy Greek music, dancing, dining and other activities under the stars at the Sponge Docks. The event will feature live music by Odyssey, free Greek dance instruction, and free lessons in tavli (Greek backgammon) offered by players from the World Tavli Association.
Night in the Islands is offered every month through July 2010.
The Gulf Maritime Festival and Night in the Islands are supported in part by a grant from the Florida Division of Cultural Resources.
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