It's All Happening

The temperatures may have cooled off a little, but these happening events will be sure to heat up your fall travel plans.

Seafood lovers rejoice! The 28th Annual Biloxi Seafood Festival is September 12 - 13. This celebration of family, community, and seafood heritage highlights the rich and diverse history of Biloxi. Attendees enjoy delicious seafood, unique arts and crafts, and continuous live entertainment all weekend.

October 2 - 4, the Annual Oktoberfest transforms quaint downtown Panama City into a bustling German-style village. Food enthusiasts will be serenaded by local musicians of a variety of styles, so practice your polka. Oktoberfest offers plenty to keep the little ones busy, while the adults savor a huge selection of beer. Carnival rides, face-painting, clowns and other family activities are part of the fun. More than 25,000 people are expected to attend the event, from the ceremonial tapping of the kegs to the Oom-Pah-Pah band concerts.

To celebrate all things shrimp, you can’t miss the 38th Annual National Shrimp Festival in Gulf Shores, Alabama, October 8 - 11. This is one of the nation’s top food festivals and it attracts well over 300,000 shrimp aficionados each year who revel in the live entertainment, arts and crafts, more than 300 vendors, and, of course, shrimp, shrimp, shrimp!

If you like the outdoors and great live music, especially combined, head down to Kissimmee for the 2nd Annual Harvest Music Jam at Forever Florida on October 10. Some of the best local artists will be filling the night air with alternative, folk, and pop music. After all that, there’s a drum circle around the campfire, and wake up for an acoustic breakfast the next morning.

Speaking of great live entertainment, Halloween is the time to see some great music in the Crescent City. Voodoo Fest, October 30 - November 1, brings some of the biggest names in music (and some of the wilder residents and visitors in New Orleans) for three days of and experience you’re not soon to forget. Headliners this year include Kiss, Eminem, Jane’s Addiction, and Widespread Panic.