On Saturday, March 6, from 10am to 5pm, the City of Tarpon Springs will present the 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, mullet nets, shrimp nets and cast nets; foodways; mullet fishing & smoking, grouper fishing, clam farming, boat building, and more.
The free festival will also present music and dance associated with Gulf maritime communities, as well as interviews with those involved in maritime activities. Participants will include National Heritage Fellow Nicholas Toth (diving helmets) from Tarpon Springs. The Florida Maritime Museum in Cortez will bring several Florida boats they have renovated or built in their workshop.
The stage schedule is as follows:
| 10:30-11 | interview with fishermen Charles Beckham (Cedar Key), Arnold Davis (Cortez), Charles Thompson (Apalachicola) | |
| 11-11:30 | Irene Karavokiros & Friends/Kalymnian traditional songs | |
| 11:30-12 | interview with helmet maker Nicholas Toth & former hardhat diver Philip Fatolitis | |
| 12-12:30 | Wayne Martin & Dennis Devane/country music & western swing | |
| 12:30-1 | Spiros Skordilis-Greek rembetika & popular music | |
| 1-1:30 | interview with Gary Alberts/stone crabs (Steinhatchee), Rose Cantwell & Rick Viele/clam farming (Cedar Key) | |
| 1:30-2 | Ellada-Greek popular music | |
| 2-2:30 | Ellada-Greek popular music | |
| 2:30-3 | interview with Florida Maritime Museum boat builder Bob Pitt | |
| 3-3:30 | Michalis Kappas & Panayiotis League/Kalymnian nisiotika (island music) | |
| 3:30-4 | interview with sponge divers Taso Karistinos, Bill Gresko, Clay Nicks & merchants Jim Skaroulis & Mike Koutouzis | |
| 4-4:30 | Wayne Martin & Dennis Devane/country music & western swing | |
| 4:30-5 | Levendia/Greek dances of the Dodecanese Islands | |
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 instruction in Greek dance, 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.
You must be logged in to post a comment.