Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
© St. Petersburg Times, published May 9, 2002
Cool shade, hot blues
Things won't get any cooler -- or hotter -- than the Cotee River Seafood Festival & Time Warner Boat Show around Orange Lake and along the Pithlachascotee River in New Port Richey on Saturday and Sunday.
Good breezes and shade trees provide the cool for people scoping out the $10-million worth of power boats, sailboats, kayaks, canoes and personal watercraft in and around Sims Park, the lake and the river.
Hot? The blues won't get much hotter than the companion Blues by the River concert going on both afternoons of the all-day seafood fest. The twist on the arts and crafts booths is that most are nautical-related. (Never mind that last year's favorite sold oil lamps made from bone-dry desert rocks.) Then there are the 18 food booths with shrimp, oysters, crab cakes, Italian ices, hot dogs, funnel cakes and all kinds of goodies, plus the Fun Zone activity center, net casting and Jet Ski demos and pontoon boat rides ($5) up and down the river from noon to 4 p.m. each day.
Festival hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. both days. Greater New Port Richey Main Street, the sponsor, is asking for a $2 donation. The Saturday evening blues concert from 5:45 to 9 p.m. is $5 for adults if you want to listen to Bob Margolin and Hubert Sumlin. To reach the festival site, turn east from U.S. 19 onto Main Street in New Port Richey, go over the Cotee River bridge and turn left at the first opportunity.