Blessing of the Fleet

Crabbers are, by nature, a wiry, hardworking, quiet spoken breed. Many of them are carrying on a family tradition. They’re not the type who look for attention. If anything, they shy away from it. That’s where people like Kelly Kirk, Carrie Doxsee, and Holly Dudley come in.

The three young women already have plenty on their plates as the organizers of the Everglades Seafood Festival—one of the largest festivals in the state. They’re also the officers—and founders—of the Florida Stone Crabbers Association (FLSCA). This year they took over the Blessing of the Fleet, the annual event designed to honor Florida’s stone crabbers. This year’s event, the thirteenth, was held Saturday at Camellia Street Grill. The new location, right on the Barron River, was a huge hit.

“We had a great time,” said Kelly Kirk, a fifth-generation Floridian fisherman. "I think it was a great turnout. Everyone had a good time. It was awesome.”

Awesome is a great way to describe the sight of a dozen crab boats motoring down the Barron River in formation. 

“A lot of these people on these boats are my friends,” Kirk said, "or people that I consider family. To see it from this perspective and not be on the boat, to be dockside, it was awesome. It's like just everyone coming together. It was a good time. Everyone had a lot of fun and it really showed a lot of support for the commercial stone crabbers."

It even touched the hearts of the stoic crabbers.

"I'm going to go ahead and say, yes, it did,” said Carrie Doxsee. "My husband is a very hard person to evoke excitement out of, and I can tell you that his spirits were really great yesterday.

It was nice to see them all kind of get together. We had a lot of laughs reflecting back on the day. Just very enjoyable overall for everybody."

There was definitely a good vibe at the event, which was attended by many of the townspeople of Everglades City—many with babes in arms.

"I don't know how we got so lucky,” Kirk pondered. "I just think we attract good people. We feel the same way about the Seafood Festival. The vibe is a positive one. It's a community-based camaraderie. It's a lot of fun. It's upbeat. And that's what yesterday was, too. I think it's just that the people that support us are such great people."

Is it lucky? Or is it because of the work done by this energetic trio of ladies? We’re saying it’s the latter.

One of the highlights was the Bait the Trap contest, won by the son of entertainer Jack Shealy. Contestants were challenged to throw a mullet into a crab trap. 

"That was actually a ton of fun,” Doxsee said. "The kids had a great time. They were really into it. Did not care about the stinky, slimy mullet. And the look on his face when we announced him as the winner was absolutely priceless. Just looking up at his father with a look of pride. Jack asked him on stage, 'What's the secret to winning the mullet contest?’ And he just looked at his dad and he goes, ‘Aim. Had good aim. That's pretty simple.’"

All three ladies, in addition to being directors of the FLSCA, are intimately involved in the stone crab industry. Kelly is part of Kirk Fish on Goodland, her family’s fish market that specializes in stone crab.

“The third director is Holly Dudley,” Kirk said, "and her husband and dad are both stone crabbers in Everglades City. Holly has pretty much devoted her life to doing charity work. She has Holly's Hope, an organization down in Everglades City that helps people seek treatment for addiction. And she's really done the brunt of the work for the Everglades Seafood Festival and even the Blessing yesterday. She really puts her heart and soul into it. And she doesn't ask for much. But she's the reason it all goes the way it does."

With the huge crowd and the positive energy Saturday, it looks like the ladies might have a hit on their hands with the Blessing of the Fleet.

"That was the feedback that we got,” Kirk agreed. "Everyone that stopped me was so appreciative and they were so excited. And like Carrie said, a lot of these crabbers don't go out of their way to socialize and don't go out of their way to meet the people that are enjoying their seafood. They are a very to themselves kind of breed of people. But I think that comes from a long history of kind of being walked all over by our government with rules and regulations. So the less said, the less attention you're going to bring to yourself, the less the government is going to look at you. And it was just a really good opportunity for everyone to mingle. And the guys enjoyed it, all of the customers and you know, the community supporters had a great time. The music was awesome. The food from Camellia Street was out of this world. They really did a bang-up job.”

The Camellia Street Grill staff worked into the night Friday to make sure the pork and black beans and rice were ready for the hungry crowd Saturday.

Kirk was happy to see the community at large show up in droves for the event.

“They took advantage of that support from the community,” Kirk said. “It's not just about crabbers going to catch stone crabs. We want to support this industry. We want community members to show support. We want to advocate for the commercial fishermen in as many ways as we can. And at the end of the day, without stone crabs, we don't have an industry. These men and women in this industry, they're conservationists. They want to make sure that we're protecting it. They want to make sure that it's well represented from both sides, from the commercial side and from the management side. I think there's a long way to go with it. But I do think that we're all in a really good place and we're moving in a really positive direction."

Seeing a dozen crab boats motoring down the Barron River was a powerful visual.

“We’re not the stone crab capital of the world for no reason,” Kirk said proudly. "I had a lot of friends from Marco Island come down just to see that community and show their support from start to finish. The smiles on everybody's face as you walked around and everyone just really enjoying themselves. It was so humbling."

"I think for me,” Doxsee said, “it’s the same thing. The biggest thing that sticks out to me is how many people stopped us to say thank you and to show support. And they were so appreciative of what it was and what it grew to be. You know, we didn't start the blessing of the fleet, so we had to fill some very big shoes. And what it turned out being and the positivity and the camaraderie and just people stopping me saying, 'Hey, I drove from Fort Lauderdale or I came from Punta Gorda or I came from so-and-so because this sounded like such a great day.' And it has been. It was just a great day."

Now the ladies can concentrate on the Everglades Seafood Festival that will be here before they know it.

"That is going to be February 2-4,” Doxsee said.

They’re not ready to let the cat out of the bag regarding this year’s headliner.

“We're not going to announce anything yet,” she said. “We've got all that in the works. We’re looking forward to a good turnout. And we want to also emphasize that all of our proceeds from the Everglades Seafood Festival go back to the community, goes back to the kids, goes back to the people who are in need. It's all charitable."

Stone crab season opens October 15 and closes May 2.

Crabbers are, by nature, a wiry, hardworking, quiet spoken breed. Many of them are carrying on a family tradition. They’re not the type who look for attention. If anything, they shy away from it. That’s where people like Kelly Kirk, Carrie Doxsee, and Holly Dudley come in.

The three young women already have plenty on their plates as the organizers of the Everglades Seafood Festival—one of the largest festivals in the state. They’re also the officers—and founders—of the Florida Stone Crabbers Association (FLSCA). This year they took over the Blessing of the Fleet, the annual event designed to honor Florida’s stone crabbers. This year’s event, the thirteenth, was held Saturday at Camellia Street Grill. The new location, right on the Barron River, was a huge hit.

“We had a great time,” said Kelly Kirk, a fifth-generation Floridian fisherman. "I think it was a great turnout. Everyone had a good time. It was awesome.”

Awesome is a great way to describe the sight of a dozen crab boats motoring down the Barron River in formation. 

“A lot of these people on these boats are my friends,” Kirk said, "or people that I consider family. To see it from this perspective and not be on the boat, to be dockside, it was awesome. It's like just everyone coming together. It was a good time. Everyone had a lot of fun and it really showed a lot of support for the commercial stone crabbers."

It even touched the hearts of the stoic crabbers.

"I'm going to go ahead and say, yes, it did,” said Carrie Doxsee. "My husband is a very hard person to evoke excitement out of, and I can tell you that his spirits were really great yesterday.

It was nice to see them all kind of get together. We had a lot of laughs reflecting back on the day. Just very enjoyable overall for everybody."

There was definitely a good vibe at the event, which was attended by many of the townspeople of Everglades City—many with babes in arms.

"I don't know how we got so lucky,” Kirk pondered. "I just think we attract good people. We feel the same way about the Seafood Festival. The vibe is a positive one. It's a community-based camaraderie. It's a lot of fun. It's upbeat. And that's what yesterday was, too. I think it's just that the people that support us are such great people."

Is it lucky? Or is it because of the work done by this energetic trio of ladies? We’re saying it’s the latter.

One of the highlights was the Bait the Trap contest, won by the son of entertainer Jack Shealy. Contestants were challenged to throw a mullet into a crab trap. 

"That was actually a ton of fun,” Doxsee said. "The kids had a great time. They were really into it. Did not care about the stinky, slimy mullet. And the look on his face when we announced him as the winner was absolutely priceless. Just looking up at his father with a look of pride. Jack asked him on stage, 'What's the secret to winning the mullet contest?’ And he just looked at his dad and he goes, ‘Aim. Had good aim. That's pretty simple.’"

All three ladies, in addition to being directors of the FLSCA, are intimately involved in the stone crab industry. Kelly is part of Kirk Fish on Goodland, her family’s fish market that specializes in stone crab.

“The third director is Holly Dudley,” Kirk said, "and her husband and dad are both stone crabbers in Everglades City. Holly has pretty much devoted her life to doing charity work. She has Holly's Hope, an organization down in Everglades City that helps people seek treatment for addiction. And she's really done the brunt of the work for the Everglades Seafood Festival and even the Blessing yesterday. She really puts her heart and soul into it. And she doesn't ask for much. But she's the reason it all goes the way it does."

With the huge crowd and the positive energy Saturday, it looks like the ladies might have a hit on their hands with the Blessing of the Fleet.

"That was the feedback that we got,” Kirk agreed. "Everyone that stopped me was so appreciative and they were so excited. And like Carrie said, a lot of these crabbers don't go out of their way to socialize and don't go out of their way to meet the people that are enjoying their seafood. They are a very to themselves kind of breed of people. But I think that comes from a long history of kind of being walked all over by our government with rules and regulations. So the less said, the less attention you're going to bring to yourself, the less the government is going to look at you. And it was just a really good opportunity for everyone to mingle. And the guys enjoyed it, all of the customers and you know, the community supporters had a great time. The music was awesome. The food from Camellia Street was out of this world. They really did a bang-up job.”

The Camellia Street Grill staff worked into the night Friday to make sure the pork and black beans and rice were ready for the hungry crowd Saturday.

Kirk was happy to see the community at large show up in droves for the event.

“They took advantage of that support from the community,” Kirk said. “It's not just about crabbers going to catch stone crabs. We want to support this industry. We want community members to show support. We want to advocate for the commercial fishermen in as many ways as we can. And at the end of the day, without stone crabs, we don't have an industry. These men and women in this industry, they're conservationists. They want to make sure that we're protecting it. They want to make sure that it's well represented from both sides, from the commercial side and from the management side. I think there's a long way to go with it. But I do think that we're all in a really good place and we're moving in a really positive direction."

Seeing a dozen crab boats motoring down the Barron River was a powerful visual.

“We’re not the stone crab capital of the world for no reason,” Kirk said proudly. "I had a lot of friends from Marco Island come down just to see that community and show their support from start to finish. The smiles on everybody's face as you walked around and everyone just really enjoying themselves. It was so humbling."

"I think for me,” Doxsee said, “it’s the same thing. The biggest thing that sticks out to me is how many people stopped us to say thank you and to show support. And they were so appreciative of what it was and what it grew to be. You know, we didn't start the blessing of the fleet, so we had to fill some very big shoes. And what it turned out being and the positivity and the camaraderie and just people stopping me saying, 'Hey, I drove from Fort Lauderdale or I came from Punta Gorda or I came from so-and-so because this sounded like such a great day.' And it has been. It was just a great day."

Now the ladies can concentrate on the Everglades Seafood Festival that will be here before they know it.

"That is going to be February 2-4,” Doxsee said.

They’re not ready to let the cat out of the bag regarding this year’s headliner.

“We're not going to announce anything yet,” she said. “We've got all that in the works. We’re looking forward to a good turnout. And we want to also emphasize that all of our proceeds from the Everglades Seafood Festival go back to the community, goes back to the kids, goes back to the people who are in need. It's all charitable."

Stone crab season opens October 15 and closes May 2.