Uncle Kracker at Seafood Fest Headlines Huge Weekend of Events

BRADENTON – The annual Hernando De Soto Historical Society Seafood Festival returns this weekend, the first since the unveiling of Riverwalk and the event will be appropriately up-sized with two musical stages, headlined by a top national act. There will also be a free trolly service linking the downtown with the Village of the Arts and the temporarily relocated downtown farmer's market.

Uncle Kracker

The three-day event will not only feature the area's best seafood, but a full-fledge musical festival as well. Uncle Kracker, formerly of Kid Rock's band, Twisted Brown Trucker, is one of the premier top-40 recording artists in the country. Famous for such hits as Follow Me and his cover of Dobie Gray's Drift Away, the Michigan native sold out Joyland in his first performance in the area last year.

Admission for the event is only $2 and part of the proceeds will benefit Operation Troop Support and Feeding Empty Little Tummies. Uncle Kracker will play the main stage Saturday at 8:30 p.m. Other bands scheduled to perform include local favorites Shotgun Justice, Wicked Jester and Kettle of Fish. The festival kicks off Friday night with the popular AC-DC tribute band Highway to Hell. Click here for the full music schedule.

A free trolley will be available from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. The trolley will run from the Seafood Festival to the Downtown Bradenton Farmers’ Market, which will be moved that day to the Village of the Arts, several blocks south of its usual location on Old Main Street.

Two trolleys will each make a 30 minute circuit connecting the Seafood Festival, the Village of the Arts, and the city parking garage at 12th St. West and 6th Ave. West –just one block east of Bradenton’s new Downtown Transit Station. With two trolleys running, the maximum wait-time for trolley-riders should be in the 10-15 minute range at each of four stops.

The Downtown Bradenton Farmers’ market, which takes over Old Main St. on most Saturdays, will move to 12th St. West in the Village of the Arts on that day. The open-air market will run from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., with live music and approximately 50 vendors selling vegetables, plants, food, arts, and crafts.

The 4/6 trolley will coincide not only with the Seafood Festival, but with the Village of the Art’s monthly ArtWalk, its annual GardenWalk, and a Childrens-Book Author Showcase.  The GardenWalk and Author Showcase will run from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and the monthly ArtWalk will be extended to 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.  The authors’ event will include author readings and signings at multiple Village locations.

Dave Gustafson, Executive Director of the Bradenton Downtown Development Authority (DDA), explains that the April 6 trolley “…will be the first step in the creation of a long-term multi-modal transportation plan for downtown.” The DDA, City of Bradenton, and Realize Bradenton, in partnership with Manatee County Area Transit and the Tampa Bay Regional Transit Authority, are working together to make the trolley project a success.