the reason the parking is free is so you can come in and spend an arm and a leg on the nasty food. I ate at "gyros" and 2 crab cakes with a salad was $25 i asked if i could just have one crab cake and of course they did but did not want to adjust the price at all. We also got some shrimp mac and cheese ($20) that was cold and at the end of the day just kept me in the bathroom. Stay FAR AWAY from this event and spend your money literally anywhere else to eat and get a 10x better deal and won't get sick. There was even a vendor the got featured on food network in 2007 (almost 20 years ago) and wants $45-$50 for everything like if your not standing in dirt eating on a paper plate. Big scam festival and hope they don't come back. read more

4 of us friends took a bus trip (Lamers) to this festival. There were many food tents that had quite long lines. Prices were reasonable to somewhat high. Tents for shopping were plentiful with a huge variety of items to choose from. There were tents with items to buy in a large field as well as many along the streets in the main area of town. The old wooden schoolhouse is still an interesting attraction. Pirates were everywhere which were fun to see...the most handsome pirate looked a lot like Jack Sparrow. He was very handsome, polite and kind enough to let me take a few photos of him. read more

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This annual festival has become over crowded with long waits in lines at pretty much every food vendor. We heard complaints about waiting in line for a half hour or more only to be told that the food they were hoping for was no longer available. This used to be an event that we looked forward to each year. This year we left the festival less than a half hour after we arrived after seeing the long lines and talking to a few friends we met at the event. This is another example of a city no longer appreciative of its residents and more interested in catering to the tourists. read more

This festival has since been renamed St. Augustine Lions Spring Festival. I would say if you are looking to spend about an hour or have kids that can do the kids activities than stop by. If not than you may not want to venture out. There were a lot of vendors to browse through and definitely a lot of food. The food is going to run you $15 and up. I enjoyed the food, but more than I wanted to pay. The bands weren't very good. The one at the end of the festival was a great band, but having a toddler we had to leave prior to them coming on. My mom and I spoke with some of the ladies monitoring the rides. They all participate and benefit from The Lions Club programs. It sounds like they are doing a lot of wonderful things for people. read more

I really enjoy this festival as I love seafood. I brought a friend of mine who's never been and we decided to go first thing in the morning which meant being there when the gates open at 10am. It was hard dragging my butt out of the bed but if it means beating the crowds I'm all for it. When we got there, most of the really good and free parking was already taken so we decided to park in the bank parking lot facing Ponce De Leon Blvd. Of course this wasn't free as the Boy Scouts were running parking for $10. Ok it's for a good cause so we paid and parked. It was also worth it because it wasn't far from the the front gate. It's $3/person to get in and kids under 12 are free. There's a kids area with bumper-boats, inflatable slides, rock-climbing wall, and flying kiddie airplanes. We weren't immediately hungry so we walked around to the arts & crafts vendors first. They had everything from jams and preserves, woodwork, jewelry, tie-dye clothing, homemade candy, etc. It's the same type of vendors you'd see at the Riverside Arts Market. They way the food works is that you have to buy tokens from the Lions volunteers as the food vendors do not take cash. Whatever you don't use they will buy back. My friend stated this was a ploy to not realize how much you're actually paying for items and I share the same feeling. We both decided to only get one item and something we hadn't had before. Holy crap there was a lot to choose from: Shrimp served every way possible, lobster rolls, seafood quesadilla, lobster nachos, conch salad, grilled octopus, crab legs, crab cakes, clamps, oyster po' boys, plenty of seafood paella and the list goes on. My friend got the bang-bang shrimp basket and she got a coconut shrimp as an added bonus with fries. I wanted the conch salad but I had two options: one served in a margarita glass or one served in a half-pineapple. I went with the margarita glass because I knew I wouldn't be able to finish the pineapple as well. That salad was sooooo good! I now LOVE conch. I tasted a bit of my friend's bang-bang shrimp and they were ok. I think the bang-bang sauce was a bit too mayonnaise-y. Winn-Dixie had a huge booth set up and they were handing out free samples so we both quickly moved over to where they were. We tasted cajun crab dip, fried crab balls (insert joke here) and cajun shrimp. All were pretty good for food coming out of a freezer case. I couldn't leave without visiting Ginny's Fudge and Nuts. They are at the festival every year and every time I go I must get their fudge. They have all sorts of flavors like Bubblegum, Key Lime, Cookie Dough, Cookies N Cream, Pumpkin Pie, Creamcicle, and several kinds of Chocolate for example, Death by Chocolate. They had a new one called Maple Bacon and I had to get it. It is to die for. Everyone should at least attend this event once and go as early as possible. You'll have a good time. read more

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As expected it was crowded at the festival. We were in line for an hour to turn to the Main Street. Parking was horrible. Public parking was blocked off. Drove around for 40 minutes to find parking. Walked another 15 minutes to the festival. It was time consuming. Entrance fee was 5$ per adult. 16 and under was free. There were many vendors and booth. We got fresh squeezed lemonade. That's was refreshing. We also got jambalaya. The rice was soggy and cold. The season was very salty. We waited in line for seafood plate. I was so salty, we couldn't finish the plate. I did enjoy the arts and crafts that they had. They also had shows for the children. read more

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My girlfriend stumbled upon this festival while online one day and we made the decision to buy the ten dollar per person tickets and check it out and I am so glad we did! The food was amazing with about fourteen different seafood vendors who had all kinds of different stuff from paella, crab cakes, seafood stew, soft-shell crab, etc. We tried a little bit of everything and had such a good time sharing food and trying as much as we could because it was all so good! The prices were a little steeper than expected, to be honest. A lot of them were considered meals and would include a side for around fifteen dollars, some of the portions weren't huge while some were quite a bit of food. It really depended on the vendor, so be aware that you might not be getting a ton of food for your money. We spent a hundred bucks fairly quickly. They also had a lot of cool vendors selling hot sauces, rubs, lotions, all kinds of random stuff. We ended up buying some really awesome sauces and some amazing organic lotion. All of the vendors were super nice! I highly recommend checking out this festival, we will make a point to do so again next year! read more

The food was not good. And I was actually shocked!!! Also the lines were ridiculously long and by the time you get to what you order some ppl ran out or it just wasn't good. Don't think we'll be going cack read more

I've tried going to this festival 4 times over the past few years, twice with no success. Tried going again this year and after 30 minutes of waiting in traffic (W Castillo), they block the garage entrance in front of me with a "lot full" sign. Drove around the area for another 30 minutes looking for parking that wasn't there. Everywhere by the shops to the Castillo was full. Drove to a park-and-ride lot that told me to go to another lot further up US-1. Said "screw it" and went to a seafood restaurant off A1A. I just don't get why those in charge continue to hold this event in such a small venue with crap parking. read more

Disgusting and Outrageous!! $15 to park in parking garage, no matter if you stay 5 min or all day. $5 person person to walk threw. All fried, disgusting food! Nothing fresh or lemon baked..... and OUTRAGEOUS $13 for one crab cake(very small), $15 for a small thing of octopus that look liked mangeled meat! Daughter said it tasted "weird", she ended up not eating it. Very disappointing read more

St Augustine Lions Seafood Festival - Festivals Near Me - Saint Augustine, Florida

The St Augustine lion's Club's 35th year in having this seafood festival. $5 entry fee for adults unless you buy the ticket online before the first Friday festival day. Unless you go early, your drive will be very long as you will sit in traffic going at a snails pace. Parking is a commodity in St Augustine, for all of the parking at any event, any weekend where the weather is nice will be extremely tough to find. Many homeowners allow parking in their yards or lots for a nominal fee. Take it from us, bring good walking shoes. If the event is within a mile, you should pay the fee to park in a pay for parking yard, gather the kids & pets and walk the mile to the event. Trust me, you will get there a lot quicker than any other transportation vehicle unless you have roller skates, skateboards or bicycles. Be prepared to wait in VERY LONG LINES for any seafood, drink, face painting and dessert venues. I am sure the food was delicious for there were patrons sitting at long picnic tables under a large tent but we never got close enough to actually see any of the food. Yes, the lines for each seafood vendor stretched approximately 40-50 yards deep with lines curving around. Needless to say, hubby & I did not stand in those lines & did not have any seafood. Instead, Hubs & I walked around this crowded venue to see some of the vendor handcrafts from a very diverse and talented bunch of folks. Also made some purchases. All in all, with 35 years of experience in throwing the 'Biggest' seafood festival in the oldest city in America warrants the Lions group planning committee to take a better look at what this venue could be besides collecting the entry fee & vendor fees. The following are just suggestions: 1. Have seafood vendors offer 2 (two) choices only. The longer the menu choices, the longer the wait, the longer the lines. This way, the paying customer gets 1 or the other. The food vendor can continuously make the 2 choices & charge the same price for either choice & get the lines moving! 2. Make it a meal to include a beverage. Some vendors were drinks only. Some vendors were food only. Some lines were desserts only. 3. Have vendors have enough personnel working the booths. 2 cooks, 2 meal preparers, 2 to push out food & 2 cashiers. The cashier should not be the food handler or the cook. They should all have dedicated duties/stations & work as a team to QUICKLY get the 2 choices out & get their lines down. As a committee member, one should be concerned why the food isn't getting out as quickly as it should. Stop and talk to patrons to see how The Lions committee should include this in their new & streamlined venue so that the food lines would move quicker. 3. Have volunteers clean up the seating areas. Not all patrons are able or willing to do that. No one wants to eat at dirty tables. 4. Have entry/Exits clearly marked by way of the main road. Only one entry sign was visible--had we known of a second entrance, we would have entered from there instead of walking all the way around, like a few other parties did (none of us knew there was another entrance). Unless some changes are made, hubs and I are not too sure we'll be attending the 36th event. It sure would be great to try some seafood next time without the hassle of standing in 40-50 yard lines waiting. Thanks for the opportunity to offer suggestions. read more