Press Release | For Immediate Release
The 39th Annual Charlestown Seafood Festival Announces 2024 Line Up of Food Vendors, Live Bands & Entertainment and Expanded Kid Zone
August 2, 3 & 4, 2024
It’s 3 Full Days of Non-Stop Entertainment & A Gastronomic Extravaganza of The BEST Seafood!
The Seafood Festival is the biggest fundraiser for the Charlestown Chamber of Commerce. The funds raised by The Charlestown Seafood Festival are vital to the Chamber’s mission to support local businesses and boost tourism.
“We are excited for our 39th Annual Charlestown Seafood Festival in 2024! This event supports almost everything we do for the community. The Charlestown Seafood Festival is our primary fundraiser,” said Heather Paliotta, executive director of the Charlestown Chamber of Commerce and director of The Charlestown Seafood Festival. “We have a full list of incredible food vendors (most are long time repeat vendors with a handful of new ones). Our total number of food vendors this year is over 55. Our daily live entertainment features live daily bands and lots of amusements; our beer, wine and hard seltzer tents will be filled with beer from Budweiser and craft breweries, wines & Prosecco and a variety of hard seltzers. We are excited to have expanded our kids zone this year, inside of the festival, with free activities for kids to include not only face painting, clowns, jugglers, and balloon twisters but we have added photos with a real live mermaid, and games such as corn hole, ladder ball, sea horse ring toss, an ocean themed tic tac toe, checkers, big jenga, and a giant connect four.”
The Charlestown Seafood Festival is a three-day event which attracts close to 50,000 people. Those interested in becoming a festival sponsor should contact Kimberly Poland at 401-743-7272 or email sponsorships@polandmediagroup.com. Sponsorship information, as well as vendor forms and details about the event are all listed on the festival’s website.
More About The 39th Annual Charlestown Seafood Festival
This year’s event marks the 39th anniversary of the Charlestown Seafood Festival. This family- and community-oriented “seafood extravaganza” is well renowned as the area’s one and only “original seafood festival.” We proudly invite everyone to come on down and partake in the various dining opportunities, the great musical entertainment, fireworks, a classic car show, amusements, onsite camping, crafters and much, much more.
Rhodes Islanders have long appreciated their closeness and connection to the Atlantic Ocean, Narragansett Bay, Block Island Sound, the coastal salt ponds and beautiful estuaries of Southern Rhode Island. We’re proud of our vibrant maritime roots and culture. The seafood industry, seafood dinning and all our coastal resources are an integral part of who we are and what we do. To be a resident of Rhode Island – “An Ocean-Stater” – is truly a state of mind and an experience to behold.
A true Rhode Island experience, the Charlestown Seafood Festival, is proud to offer patrons the opportunity to dine on some of the freshest and most delicious native seafood from around the region. Each year this festival brings together a plethora of seafood harvesters and vendors, aquaculture growers, restaurateurs and concessionaires from up and down the east coast. Each day they steam up piles of fresh live native lobsters, prepare delicious lobster rolls, steam up baskets of succulent clams, steamers and mussels with corn, potatoes and butter, fry up bay and sea scallops, prepare Rhode Island’s official appetizer of calamari and much, much more. Exotic seafood including freshly boiled Cajun crawfish, Maryland style crab cakes, seafood jambalaya, and farm-raised alligator together with large Gulf shrimp and other delicious foods are all cooked for your dining pleasure onsite. Enjoy freshly harvested and locally grown littleneck clams and a variety of oysters cultivated in the salt ponds of South County. Dine on them served on the half-shell, chilled over ice with a wedge of lemon and your favorite cocktail sauce or vinaigrette. All while you take in the sights and sounds and enjoy the variety of entertainment.
Dining opportunities also include festival favorites such as burgers and french-fries, hot dogs, clam chowder and clam cakes, fish chowder, corn on the cob, spiral potatoes, chicken and beef, fish and chips, sausage and pepper sandwiches, steak sandwiches, fried dough, ice cream and many other dessert choices. The food choices abound at this festival and you’re guaranteed to find something that tempts your palate. What goes better with seafood and BBQ than frosty draft beer and chilled wine? Multiple beverage choices available for purchase on site; you must be of legal drinking age and have a valid photographic ID.
The Charlestown Seafood Festival offers patrons great outdoor musical entertainment. Your general event admission price includes non-stop concerts performed each day by a variety of musical talents including Doctor Brenda’s Rhythm Army, Take It To The Bridge and Street Survivors Tribute to Lynyrd Skynyrd on Friday, August 2nd. On Saturday, August 3rd come and enjoy the sounds of Caswell Cooke & The Peel N’ Eat All Stars, David Tessier’s All Star Stars, Crazy on You – Tribute to Heart, Cross Rhode Blues and a true New England favorite, the awesome Dirty Deeds (AC/DC Tribute) for a night of classic rock that leads into our fireworks display that is not to be missed. Rounding out the weekend on Sunday, August 4th enjoy Robert Black – Tribute to Elvis, the very popular classic country sounds of Hazzard Country, the ever popular swing sounds of Eight to the Bar, and Voices of Rock featuring Sean Byrne.
In addition to great dining, refreshments and concert events, the festival hosts a variety of craft vendors, a large carnival by Rockwell Amusements (ride special, ‘Ride all the Rides’ on Friday afternoon from noon to 5 p.m. – August 2, 2024 for $35.00), an awesome mid-summer fireworks show on Saturday, August 3rd, 2024 at 9:00 PM (fireworks rain date Sunday August 4th, 2024), and, a classic car show on Sunday, August 4th, 2024 starting at 11 AM.
General, daily admission to the Charlestown Seafood festival is $12.00 for adults, children 10 and under free, Military (With ID) and Senior (65 & older) discount $9.00; parking is free (a $2.00 parking donation encouraged). The event goes on daily rain-or-shine. Please keep pets at home. Self-contained RV camping is available on site. For more information and a detailed schedule of festival events and activates please log on to www.charlestownseafoodfestival.com or contact Executive Director Heather Paliotta at (401) 364-4031.
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