Isle of Eight Flags Shrimp Festival Announces Parking Plan for 61^st Festival

Parking to remain the same as it has been for decades

FERNANDINA BEACH, Fla., March 17, 2026 – The Isle of Eight Flags Shrimp Festival (Shrimp Festival), celebrating the birthplace of the modern shrimping industry, announces its parking plan to assist the more than 150,000 visitors expected to descend on Historic Downtown Fernandina on festival weekend May 1^st through 3^rd. Parking will remain the same as it has been for decades with the City’s recently-implemented paid parking program waived from Thursday through Sunday evenings.

There will be two official parking lots – a Park & Ride Lot and a Park & Walk Lot, both of which are fundraisers for local charities. Park & Ride, at Fernandina Beach High School, is a $15 donation with a FREE air conditioned shuttle ride. The Park & Walk at Buccaneer Field/Central Park is a $20 donation with a short walk to the festival. There will also be additional free, legal street parking and other private fundraiser parking throughout the neighborhoods surrounding the festival. Accessible parking (with valid disabled parking permit) is available at the library parking lot at Alachua St. and 4^th Street, and on Ash St. between 4^th and 5^th.

The City of Fernandina Beach’s Downtown paid parking program will be waived from Thursday, April 30^th at 5 p.m. through Sunday, May 3^rd at 8 p.m. to accommodate festival activities. Centre Street and side streets from Front Street through 7^th Street will all be closed to vehicular traffic through the weekend.

“We understand there’s a lot of confusion related what visitors can expect when visiting Downtown Fernandina Beach,” said Scott Inglis, chairman of the Shrimp Festival. “We want to reassure all our out-of-town and day tripper visitors that they will experience parking at and around the festival as it has been for many years with our official lots as fundraisers and other free and legal street parking in the surrounding neighborhoods. The Shrimp Festival looks forward to welcoming all our visitors for this annual event, which attracts more visitors and has the largest economic impact of any annual event in Nassau County.”

Presented by Baptist Nassau Medical Center, The Isle of Eight Flags Shrimp Festival, celebrating 61 years in 2026, is one of the Southeast’s oldest, continuously operating free, family-friendly festivals. The festival celebrates shrimp, community and art in Historic Downtown Fernandina Beach. The Isle of Eight Flags Shrimp Festival is an independent nonprofit and volunteer organization which hosts the event in partnership with the City of Fernandina Beach every year on the first weekend in May. It boasts more than 400 vendors, top-notch entertainment and contests for all ages, pirate invasions, a world-famous small town parade, Drone Show, food vendors serving local wild-caught shrimp and the Decorated Shrimp Boat Contest and Blessing of the Fleet

on Sunday.

In 2024, the Shrimp Fest was named a Top 200 Best Outdoor Show in America by Sunshine Artist Magazine and was named a Top 20 Event by the Southeast Tourism Society. Its food booths are run by local nonprofit groups as fundraisers and its art show organized by the Island Art Association is one of the top juried art shows in the U.S.

The Isle of Eight Flags Shrimp Festival attracts more than 150,000 visitors to Fernandina Beach each year and has a local economic impact of $15 million, making it the largest and most impactful annual event in Nassau County.