Art, Music, Heritage, Fun!
The Carrabelle History Museum hosted the Carrabelle Culture Crawl on Saturday, March 19, 2022. This annual event is a free celebration of amazing local culture, art, music, history, food, and fun in the heart of downtown Carrabelle. It's a wonderful opportunity to have fun as you experience the wonderful local culture that Carrabelle has to offer.
Live music outdoors to the streets of Carrabelle included a variety of Florida folk music, classic country, modern songs, and favorite oldies. Musicians like Frank Lindamood, Lewis Christie (with his keyboard), and Kevin Andrew and the Rockulla Performers, and other young talent performed.
This year, delicious food offerings were a highlight. A variety of Carrabelle’s local restaurants served up signature special items in honor of the Crawl, most at a wonderful promotional price including fresh-caught fish with a twist, an unmatched seafood gumbo from a secret recipe, award-winning crab cakes and much more.
Art was a main feature at the Carrabelle Culture Crawl with local artists painting “plein air” allowing visitors to see the creative process is action. The Carrabelle Artist Association hosted a fun activity for families making and decorating fans out a variety of materials. In addition, the always popular public art drawing and coloring activity will be hung in storefront windows. There was art to view at a variety of shops and galleries including a special art showcase at The Gallery at Rio Carrabelle. Visitors spotted fun, costumed characters from the Fishy Fashion Show wandering the streets. These walking photo ops are a fan-favorite at the Crawl. And many enjoyed seeing Carrabelle’s newest public art, a stunning building-sized mural!
Returning again this year was a Carrabelle Scavenger Hunt. For each of location, a clue was provided. Each participant received a small prize just for playing. The Scavenger Hunt is a great way to learn fun facts about Carrabelle’s history you may have never know. Guests started at the Carrabelle History Museum, SE 106 Avenue B, Carrabelle, FL and walked to as many of the wonderful locations as they wanted.
ALSO AT THE CRAWL:
- Many Crawl patrons learned about the culture, natural resources, and local history of the area by visiting the exhibitors on Avenue B.
- Florida Public Archaeology Network was there with information on Florida’s fascinating archaeological heritage.
- People found out how Carrabelle was transformed into a training camp during WWII at the Camp Gordon Johnston WWII Museum booth.
- We learned about Carrabelle’s rich nautical history at the Crooked River Lighthouse display.
- Ken Horne showed how he uses native plants to manufacture string and cordage.
- Moonlight, the Great Horned Owl, an ambassador from the Florida Wild Mammal Association graciously attended.
- Participants went on a foraging walk around central Carrabelle with the Native Plant Society, and learned about local plant species that were utilized by local Native American tribes and early Florida settlers.
- Plus, retired Florida State Park Services Specialist, Bonnie Allen, joined the Crawl to show artifacts from and discuss Franklin County’s last turpentine camp.
- George Weymouth, who has worked at Wakulla Springs, Florida State Museum of Natural and History, and Tate’s Hell State Forest, shared his knowledge and collection of archaeological finds.
For more information, contact the Carrabelle History Museum at 850-697-2141 or carrabellehistorymuseum@gmail.com. The Carrabelle Culture Crawl was founded by the Economic Development Team of the Carrabelle Waterfront Partnership. A big thank you to the sponsors of the Crawl: Carrabelle CARES, Centennial Bank, Celeda & Lewis Christie, City of Carrabelle CRA, Coastal Cottage Living, Coastal Realty Group, Duke Energy, Marian Morris, and Rio Carrabelle. Funding in part by the Franklin County Tourist Development Council.
• Bonnie Allen • Tamara Allen • Kevin Andrew • Celeda Christie • Lewis Christie • Mark Collins with HI Photography • Carole Cooper • Perry Cox • Greg Daniels • George Finn • Rod Gasche |
• Vicki Harris • Lisa Keith-Lucas • Tim Keith-Lucas • Cliff Land • Lydia Long • Joan Matey • Phoebe McFarlin • Marian Morris • Kathleen Oman • Kathy Swaggerty • Carol Zuraka |
• Jennifer Bowers, Carol Cox, Jeanne and David Dale, Tom Goodwin, Joan Matey, Geri Mueller-Savell, and Rodney Reeves for being part of costumed "Fishy Fashion" characters
• Franklin’s Promise - Conservation Corps of the Forgotten and Emerald Coasts Crew |
In-Kind Sponsors & Event Partners of the Carrabelle Culture Crawl
They provided free or discounted services or goods.
Thank you so these wonderful In-Kind Sponsors:
• Celeda Christie (for donating the ice cream gift certificates for the Scavenger Hunt participants)
• Lost Treasure Vintage Art Gallery (who designed and printed of the fabulous restaurant map)
Plus our fabulous Restaurant Partners:
• Carrabelle Junction
• Fathom's Steam Room and Raw Bar
• The Fisherman's Wife Carrabelle
• Forgotten Coast Barbeque
• Marine Street Grill
• Seafood Shack
• Sopchoppy Pizza Company
• A Taste of Korea, Carrabelle
• Two Brothers - Dockside
We also want to express our appreciation to a few of our In-Kind Sponsors of the Carrabelle Culture Crawl. These individuals and businesses donated or discounted services or goods to the Crawl to help make it a success. And we could not have done it without them!
First we want to thank the folks that brought us fabulous live music and entertainment.
• Kevin Andrew and the ROCKULLA MUSIC Performers
• Lewis Christie
• Frank Lindamood
• Jack Zurawka
Please say an extra thank you to Kevin Andrew for running sound all day during the Crawl and Lewis Christie for helping with coordinating all the music for the Crawl.
We also want to give a big thanks to Joan Matey for bringing us some of her fabulous characters from FISHY FASHION SHOW.
And last but definitely NOT least, we want to show our appreciation to these generous venues.
• Marine Street Grill for hosting most of the Crawl musicians
• Rio Carrabelle for providing live music during the Crawl as well as hosting the work of additional local artists during the Crawl.
We also want to say a big thank you to Millender’s Seafood for their generosity in supporting this year's Carrabelle Culture Crawl and the Carrabelle History Museum. They not only allowed us use of their green space along Marine Street for the Cast net demo but when bad weather threatened the success of the whole event, they opened the doors (literally) and allowed use of their building on Marine Street to house 4 exhibitors and activities. Their generosity was a crucial part in the ability to hold this year's Carrabelle Culture Crawl!
Millender’s Seafood has been a part of the business community of Carrabelle since 1942 when Braxton Millender originally opened Millender & Sons Seafood. The business is still family owned, now going on four generations, and is owned by Braxton’s great grandsons, David and Stephen Millender.
We want to thank another sponsor, Mayor Brenda La Paz and Greg Kristofferson.