Port Salerno Seafood Festival must move next year

PORT SALERNO — The Port Salerno Seafood Festival will have to find a new space after this January’s 14th annual event if it wants to continue, following a Martin County Commission decision to clamp down on the festival that has raised the ire of dozens of local residents and members of the commercial fishing community. 

“The festival is a victim of its own success,” Commissioner Sarah Heard said Tuesday. “It’s gotten too big. The character of the festival has changed. The people who were once it’s biggest supporters are now its biggest critics.”

Organizers of the festival, led by John Hennessee, president of Port Salerno Community Promotions, faced criticism for asking the county to extend its festival from a one-day event to two days. Hennessee, along with the Port Salerno Commercial Fishing Dock Authority, argued they needed a second day to support the financial stability of the event, which was rained out last year. 

Residents mounted a campaign to commissioners in the last two weeks. They complained of traffic, public intoxication, public urination, litter. The festival, they said, had changed from a quaint community event to showcase local fishermen to one that draws thousands to the downtown docks for a big party. 

“It’s a huge inconvenience,” Port Salerno resident Natasha Oberlander told the commission Tuesday. 

She recalled one man sleeping in her car and leaving three beer bottles of Heineken behind. 

Fisherman, like Josh Emerson of Jensen Beach, worried the festival, if extended to two days, would shut them down for up to five days during the peak of mackerel season. 

“I lose thousands of dollars every year during that seafood fest,” Emerson, who has been fishing there for eight years, said. “I have two young daughters at home and I need money to take care of. We wait all year for mackerel season and that’s how we make our money.”

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Organizers noted a community survey they commissioned, which showed support for the two-day festival. Some local businessmen asked for support of the event, too.

Neighbors mainly complained about traffic and a lack of access out of their homes during the festival. 

“If somebody blocked off my street so that I couldn’t get in and out of my house, my head would explode,” Commissioner Herald Jenkins said. “We’ve got to move it guys.”

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The idea of moving it to the Martin County Fairgrounds was floated, but not generally well received. Chairman Ed Ciampi suggested holding it at Sandsprit Park, which is nearby. He said they could potentially hold it all weekend there. 

“I don’t think it’s the death of the festival,” Ciampi said. “I think it’s taking it to the next level.”