Bloody Mary Festival Returns to The Market Shops Oct 1

The Bloody Mary Festival kicks off Fall with an impressive lineup celebrating local food and drink this Fall. The Market Shops once again is host the 2nd Annual Bloody Mary Festival benefiting Sinfonia Gulf Coast on Saturday, October 1, 2016 from 11 am to 2 pm.  This year's Festival welcomes many favorite restaurants, bars and culinary artists from around South Walton and Destin. The much anticipated Festival will be a lively day filled with bloody marys, craft beer, mimosa bar, local eats, and live music with New Orleans flair throughout The Market Shops courtyards and lawns. General admission and VIP Tickets are available for purchase now!

The second annual Festival will feature unlimited tastes of the Emerald Coast’s most creative and innovative Bloody Marys made with Cathead Vodka and served by the finest restaurants and bars on the panhandle. We can't wait to work our way through the tasting. Festival tasters will say who wins Best Bloody Mary 2016!

Confirmed competing restaurants include Bijoux Restaurant & Spirits, Bud & Alley’s Waterfront Restaurant, Crab Island Cantina, DIG eatery, Doc’s Oyster Bar, Louis Louis, Lulu’s Destin, Marie’s Bistro, Restaurant Paradis, Roselie Dining & Seafood Bar, Roux 30a, Ruth’s Chris Steak House, Signature Catering of 30A, Stinky’s Fish Camp, Sunset Bay Cafe, The Beach House, The Down Under Bar, The Hub, The NOLA Boiling Co., Tommy Bahama and Trebeaché.

Each ticket will include one vote for the People’s Choice Award for “Best Bloody Mary” in South Walton. The event will feature live music by a Mardi Gras marching band kicking off the festivities with a second line around The Market Shops at 11:00 a.m. and live music with Hugh Mitchell Band immediately following. A number of area restaurant will have food for sale including Bijoux Restaurant & Spirits, Charlie Graingers, DIG eatery and Marie’s Bistro. Guests will also enjoy a bubbly bar and frosty brews by exclusive beer sponsor, Grayton Beer Company. Epic Photo Co. will provide a dynamic photobooth complete with fun props and accessories to commemorate the event. Shore Thing Cigars will set up a lifestyle lounge providing premium cigars. For the avid football fans that wish to attend, Charlie Graingers will be streaming the games.

What makes a great Bloody Mary? Come taste and see some of the concoctions created by our local bartenders. Some of the cocktails are spicier than others and many are all about the garnish, but all are a labor of love. Local restaurants will showcase their best at South Walton's Bloody Mary Festival 2016.

Bloody Mary Events
Festival hours 11am - 2pm
Mardi Gras Band and Line Dance 11am
Hugh Mitchell Band 12-2pm​
Awards!

General admission and VIP tickets are on sale now at http://bit.ly/BloodyMaryTickets. Admission to the event is $35 per person if purchased in advance and $50 on the day of the event. VIP tickets are $75 and include complimentary valet parking by 30A Valet, VIP reception with champagne cocktail and appetizers provided by DIG eatery at VIP check-in hosted by The Cultural Arts Alliance of Walton County’s Foster Gallery and access to the VIP Deck at Bijoux including passed appetizers.

Proceeds from the event will benefit Sinfonia Gulf Coast. As the region’s only fully professional symphony orchestra, Sinfonia Gulf Coast is committed to entertaining, educating and inspiring the community through imaginative and innovative musical programming. To find out more about Sinfonia Gulf Coast please visithttp://sinfoniagulfcoast.org/. 

The Market Shops is conveniently situated at the entrance of the Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort at the corner of Emerald Coast Parkway (Highway 98) and the Sandestin Boulevard.  Parking is provided onsite. Shuttles for overflow parking will be provided from The Beach House to The Market Shops via Sunshine Shuttle & Limousine. Additionally, the extensive fleet of Sunshine Shuttle & Limousine is equipped to transport any size group, should you wish to reserve one of their vehicles to get you home safe. Another safe alternative for getting home is the private driving service, Uber. Uber is donating $5 to Sinfonia Gulf Coast for every new user that signs up for the app using the code “TMSBMF16” through November 24, 2016.

Additional Bloody Mary Festival sponsors are 30A, 30AEats, 30A Valet, Churchill Oaks, Courtyard Marriott, Eloquent Signs, Emerald Coast Magazine, Emerald Ladies Journal, Good Grit Magazine, Hill Coleman CPA, Hilton Sandestin Beach Golf Resort & Spa, McNeese Distributing, Northwest Florida Daily News, Proffitt PR, Shore Thing Cigars, SoWal.com, Sunshine Shuttle Company, The Destin Log, The Walton Sun, V. LALA Galleries, VIE, VIP Destin Magazine, VIP Pensacola Magazine and Visit South Walton.

We're thrilled to have an annual Bloody Mary Festival in South Walton, especially to kick off  everyone's favorite time of year - Fall at the beach!  This will no doubt become one of SoWal's most anticipated annual food + drink festivals. Last year was a blast. The inaugural Bloody Mary Festival took place in 2015 on a beautiful day with yummy food, fun people, great shopping, music, and a dazzling variety of creative Bloody Mary concoctions. What do you like in your Bloody Mary? Well chances are you would have been satisfied - pickled veggies, uinque salts, chicken wings, BLTs, grit cakes, sausage, shrimp, crab legs - you name it and it was stuffed and piled inside the red libations. Oh! And plenty of vodka in the glasses, along with mimosas and Grayton Beer.

Bloody Mary Festival 2015 Winners
Judges Choice: Bud & Alley's Restaurant
People's Choice 1st Place: Bijoux Destin
People's Choice 2nd Place: Bud & Alley's Restaurant
People's Choice 3rd Place: The Beach House

See our photo gallery from Bloody Mary Festival 2015!