Food festivals in Alabama are a long-standing tradition. They occur in all regions of the state, during all seasons, and celebrate everything from tomatoes to watermelons to, of course, barbecue. It is this diverse culinary experience APT celebrates in Season To Taste: Alabama Food Festivals, a series of special programs during 2005, declared by the Alabama Bureau of Tourism and Travel to be The Year of Food.

Many of these food celebrations follow what can be termed "crop logic". If something is grown locally in abundance, a festival can be held to celebrate it. Prime examples are the Clanton Peach and Dothan Peanut Festivals. A variation on this "crop logic" concept occurs in our southernmost regions.

Along the gulf coast of Alabama during many months of the year you can't throw a mullet without hitting a shrimp or seafood festival. From the blessing of the shrimp fleet at Bayou La Batre', to dozens of large and small venues stretching from the Mississippi line to the Florida panhandle to the Georgia border, shrimp and seafood dominate the region.

But there are festivals along the coast and in other regions of the state that defy the "crop logic" concept and spring up for no apparent reason. No reason, that is, until you look at their history, and the history of the area that spawned them.

I hope you'll enjoy the ten festivals featured in Season to Taste, and that you'll go in search of a festival near your hometown.