You can spend the first weekend in May at the Isle of Eight Flags Shrimp Festival, which closes the streets of historic downtown Fernandina Beach to traffic and runs along the riverfront for three days. Admission is free, and it goes on rain or shine. A City of Fernandina Beach proclamation sums up why it exists: to recognize the town as the birthplace of the modern shrimping industry. It's put on by the Isle of Eight Flags Shrimp Festival Committee, a volunteer group of Nassau County residents who, by the committee's own rules, can't profit from serving on it.
The food works differently from most festivals. Booths are limited to Nassau County nonprofits (church groups, school band parents, the American Legion, the local museum), so your fried shrimp or gumbo funds their programs. Booths serving local wild-caught shrimp fly a bright orange flag, which is the one to look for if that's what you came for. Outside food, drinks and coolers aren't allowed, and beer and wine stay inside the fenced Riverfront Stage area.
Past the food, there's a juried fine arts and crafts show with more than 300 artists, sponsored by the Island Art Association, plus an antiques and collectibles section, a Kids Fun Zone and live music on two stages. A Thursday-evening parade through downtown kicks things off. On Sunday, the Blessing of the Fleet and Laying of the Wreath lead into the Decorated Shrimp Boat Contest on the Amelia River.
A few practical notes from the organizer. The two official lots, a park-and-ride shuttle at Fernandina Beach High School and a park-and-walk lot at Buccaneer Field, both charge, and there's no rideshare zone, so plan to be dropped a couple of blocks out. The Amelia Island Museum of History closes that Saturday and Sunday. Exact dates and the schedule for the coming year are on the 2027 Shrimp Festival page and at shrimpfestival.com.