Food Trucks Coming To Beach Access In Orange Beach
By John Mullen, GulfCoastNewsToday.com, March 25, 2014
GULF SHORES, AL — Food, and a variety of food, will be coming to Gulf State Park this season starting Saturday with Bob Baumhower’s ShrimpFest at the Saltwater Pavilion.
Parking is free for the 4-9 p.m. event parking and $3 gets you a book of five tickets to sample the food offerings including barbecue, boiled shrimp, seafood gumbo and Conecuh Sausage.
There will also be live music, children’s entertainment, inflatables, beach volleyball and a roaring fire.
But Park Superintendent Lisa Laraway said the ShrimpFest is just the beginning of a whole season of flavor offered at state park accesses.
In addition to an authentic luau on the beach by the pavilion, Laraway said there will be food vendors at beach access points.
“We are opening three, and potentially four food outlets and we’re very excited about that,” Laraway said. “Cobalt’s approached us about a food truck out at the Point. Shipp’s Harbor will be operating their food truck out of Cotton Bayou. Katie’s Barbecue, she’s going to be doing hers on the pier. We’re going to add a smokehouse.”
Mojo’s in Gulf Shores, which is about ready to open, is working on a deal to provide food at the Saltwater Pavilion concession stand.
“We’re going to work out a contract where they operate out of the concession stand at the pavilion,” Laraway said. “And they will deliver to the cabins, the park and maybe even into Orange Beach. They are going to operate a Smart Car out of there for deliveries.
“All of those food venues, the one on the pier will be open real soon and the others will be open by May 1.”
An exciting opener to the season will be the luau on Memorial Day weekend. It is being paid four of a $20,000 grant received from Orange Beach to help produce and promote activities in the park. The money is from a $500,000 BP seafood and tourism grant the city received.
“We brought in entertainers from a professional luau company from Fort Lauderdale,” Laraway said. “We’ve got dancers, fire dancers, an emcee. It’s going to be very well done.”
A VIP section will cost $75 a ticket which will include front-row seating, food buffet and open bar. General seating area will cost $45 per ticket and includes one trip to the buffet and two drinks.
“We’re having 80 people in the VIP which is the first section right next to the stage,” Laraway said. “They’ll get a fresh lieu of flowers. They are flying them in from Taiwan.
“It’ll be roped off with lighting and tiki torches and we can seat 304 people.”
Outside the roped area beachgoers and other visitor will be able to see the action and the park will be selling drinks and some simple menu items.
“We’ll have tents where the general public, if they want to come out and watch the luau, we will have drinks for sell and a minimal menu in the tent,” Laraway said. “Nachos or maybe a hamburger or hotdog.”
Laraway said sponsorships are still available if any businesses are interested being a part of the luau.
“We have different levels of sponsorships and people can buy tables,” she said. “They can also have their name on the banner as a sponsor of the event.”
Money made at the event, Laraway said, will go toward next year’s event.
Other new events and activities are being added to the park’s schedule including yoga and paddle boarding. All activities are available to park guests as well as the general public.
A Fourth of July festival is also in the works with fireworks from the pier possibly a part of that.
“We were planning on doing some festivities around the fireworks,” Laraway said. “We want to do that whether we have fireworks on the pier or not. We’re going to bring out a DJ, we’ll be out on the beach, we’ll have games. We’re going to do something to where people have stuff to do on the beach.
“It seems like we have a lot of events in the off season to try to attract tourism but don’t have much going on in the season. I’m trying to entertain the customers that are already here.”
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