Updated Jan. 25, 2019
CORTEZ – We have a winner!
Hugh Holmes Jr. of Terra Ceia, Florida submitted a photo of the 2000 Cortez Commercial Fishing Festival T-shirt, “Into the Mulletium,” winning two admissions to the festival on Feb. 16-17 and a 2019 festival T-shirt.
We also recognized Larry and Bonnie Heiniger of Morton, Illinois with a prize for submitting a photo of a quilt made of several festival T-shirts, including the 2007 25th anniversary festival T-shirt.
We are well on our way to compiling a complete photographic record of festival T-shirts, which will be submitted to the Florida Institute for Saltwater Heritage (FISH), the Cortez Cultural Center and the Florida Maritime Museum.
So, while the prizes have been claimed, please look at the list below to see if you have a T-shirt that we don’t have, and send a photo to news@amisun.com.
Thanks for participating in preserving the history of Cortez!
Here are the slogans and years for the T-shirts we already have in our virtual festival T-shirt collection.
1983 Commercial Fishing Festival ‘83
1984 Commercial Fishing Festival Cortez Florida
1990s Navigating in the 90s
1996 Casting into the Future
1997 Cortez Fishing Festival 1997
1998 Eat more fish
1999 Our Past is our Future
2000 Into the Mulletium
2001 Fishing for a Future
2002 Fishing for You
2003 If Wishes were Fishes…
2004 Got Fish?
2005 Caught up in Cortez
2006 Mullet, Mangos and Music
2007 25th Anniversary
2008 Net Working
2009 Claws
2010 White Boot Ready
2011 You Are Here
2012 Something’s Fishy in Cortez
2013 Better Fish to Fry
2014 Wishin’ I Was Fishin’
2015 I’m a Grouper Groupie
2016 It Takes a Fishing Village
2017 Fishing for our Future
2018 Rooted in History
Our Net, Your Gain
Commercial Fishing Festival Cortez Florida
Commercial Fishing Festival Cortez, Florida (by Dirt Shirts)
Cortez Commercial Fishing Festival, Cortez (by Sheila Mora)
Before There Was Tourism
Catch the fishing festival
CORTEZ – This year’s 37th Annual Cortez Commercial Fishing Festival will celebrate the historic fishing village’s enduring heritage in the face of “Changing Tides.”
From the net ban 25 years ago, which drastically reduced mullet fishing in Florida, to runaway development, overpopulation, pollution, mangrove destruction, foreign seafood imports and this year’s ongoing red tide, the Cortez commercial fishing tradition has survived, said festival organizer and artist Rose Lipke, who designed this year’s festival logo, an octopus juggling all the issues.
The festival will kick off with the blessing of the Cortez fishing fleet at the docks on Saturday at 10 a.m., followed by two days of live music, nautical arts and crafts, Dock Talks about different types of fishing vessels, a marine touch tank, and, of course, fresh seafood.
The festival is the weekend of Feb. 16-17 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. both days. The main admission gate is at the Florida Maritime Museum, 4415 119th St. W. with another gate at the FISH Preserve parking lot east of 119th Street West.
Shuttles are available from G. T. Bray Park (5502 33rd Ave. Drive W., Bradenton) and the Coquina Beach parking lot in Bradenton Beach ($1.50 one way, $3 round trip), and paid parking for various prices is available on private property in the fishing village.
The cost is $4, with kids under 12 free, with proceeds going to enlarge and restore the 95-acre FISH (Florida Institute for Saltwater Heritage) Preserve east of the village.
Cortez Commercial Fishing Festival Music Schedule
Saturday, Feb. 16
If you go
What: The 37th Annual Cortez Commercial Fishing Festival, featuring fresh seafood, live music, arts and crafts and Dock Talks
When: Saturday, Feb. 16 and Sunday, Feb. 17 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Where: Main admission gate at Florida Maritime Museum, 4415 119th St. W., Cortez
Park at the FISH Preserve parking lot east of 119th Street West in Cortez; shuttles from G. T. Bray Park (5502 33rd Ave. Drive W., Bradenton) and the Coquina Beach parking lot in Bradenton Beach ($1.50 one way, $3 round trip); paid parking on private property in the fishing village
Cost: $4 (kids under 12 free); benefits the Florida Institute for Saltwater Heritage FISH Preserve
- 10-11 a.m. Shanty Singers
- 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Doug Deming
- 1-1:30 p.m. Awards and introductions
- 2-4 p.m. Eric Von Band
- 4:30-6 p.m. Koko Ray Show
Sunday, Feb. 17
- 10:30 a.m.-noon Soupy Davis and his Band
- 12:30-2 p.m. Ted Stevens & the Doo Shots
- 1-5 p.m. Eric Von (on the Bratton Store Porch)
- 2:30-4 p.m. Jason Haram
- 4:30-6 p.m. Karen and Jimmy Band
