VERO BEACH — The Vero Beach Pirate Festival Planning Committee is working on making this year’s event larger with more swashbuckling fun for every age. The festival will be held among the oaks at Riverside Park Friday, Saturday and Sunday, July 29, 30 and 31, and will also span the lagoon to include Royal Palm Point.
With pirate ‘krewes’ coming from around the state, the event is expected to entertain 20,000 visitors. The Committee is planning events on both sides of the lagoon with a water taxi taking visitors back and forth across the water to see the pirates and their antics in two locations without moving a car.
Royal Palm Point will be renamed Royal “Rum” Point for the weekend featuring rum distillers from around the Caribbean with an island band party on the fountain Saturday night.
Riverside Park will host pirate entertainment all through the event with food and beverages, nautical vendors, special kids activities, historic pirate encampments and the famous Pirate’s Ball on Friday night under the big tent.
The committee this year includes volunteers from different areas of business: Bob McCabe, Tom Adams, Rebecca Salinas, Jane Burton, Mary Wohlstein, Pam Parris, Phil Cominski, Toni Kuster, David Moshier, Tamara Smith, Cliff Schwanke, Charlie Wilson and Chairman Jeffrey Zachary.
The Vero Beach Chamber Of Commerce established the Vero Beach Pirate Festival as a signature event for the summer season when many service people see a reduction in hours.
Last year’s event filled several hotels and the Chamber looks forward to the expected increase in visitors for this summer’s event.
