Southwest Florida has loads of parties and occasions that never seem to end. Located east of Marco Island and south of Naples, Florida is a small town called Goodland. At first glance, it looks like a typical small town but this place has a very nice annual tradition that gets people up their feet.
We all know that the region is rich in seafood and there is nothing people from the southwest side of Florida love more than seafood. In the case of Goodland, the town favorite is the mullet fish. And what better way to celebrate this love than to make a festival dedicated to mullet? And this, the annual Mullet Festival was born. This has a long history spanning 32 years and this year people will be at it again to try the freshest mullet their waters can provide.
The annual Mullet Festival brings in literally thousands of people to attend in a weekend long celebration of fun, music, dancing and the best grilled, fried and smoke mullet in town. The celebration starts late January of every year and this is a perfect time because January and February are Mullet season months. Thousands upon thousands of mullet are caught yearly during these months.
Vendors, stalls and small shops will be seen sprouting all across town, selling arts and crafts and there will be lots of mullet prepared in many kinds of different ways. There will be of course live music and bands that will play great country music that have been all-time favorites. But the highlight of last year’s occasion was the Buzzard Slope Song that was written by the late Stan Gober, who owned a restaurant that hosted 2016’s event. There is also a matching dance that comes along with this jiggle tune. In the 2016 event, people hopped on a small outdoor stage and did a little dance competition while the Buzzard Slope Song was being played by the late musician’s son Steve Gober and his band.
There were about a dozen people on that stage who danced it away. The matching dance was sort of like the chicken dance but a little different. And the one who danced the best was a lady who was crowned Buzzard Slope Queen at the end of the contest.
The fun-loving spirit of the people of Goodland is what kept this event that almost is like a tradition alive for more than three decades now. There are even people from other states who drive over to the event just to partake in the radiant festivities.
People in January usually would prefer to stay indoors and under their sheets because of the cold weather, but the people of Goodland, Florida would like to have it differently. They have their own way to ward off the bad weather, they go out there and get some newly cooked mullet to warm their bellies and dance it out to the Buzzard Slope Song to warm the rest of their bodies, dancing makes up for a good exercise after all.
