The South Beach Seafood Festival is scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 21, through Saturday, Oct. 24, in Miami Beach. The four-day program includes ticketed dinners, chef competitions and Saturday's Seafood Slam at Lummus Park. Tickets are available through the festival's website.
Saturday tickets and the Seafood Slam
Saturday's all-inclusive Seafood Slam is priced at $160, while children 10 and under can attend free, according to SouthFloridaFamilyLife.com. The pass covers unlimited food and beverage samples from more than 40 South Florida restaurants. The Lummus Park event is scheduled near the start of Florida's stone crab season.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission lists the stone crab season as Oct. 15 through May 1. Harvesters may take legal-sized claws and must return live crabs to the water; the agency says the animals can regrow lost claws and that leaving one claw may help them feed and recover. The commission’s regulations page has additional information.
What the stone crab data show
The festival's seasonal connection to stone crab also raises a question about the fishery behind it. According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, commercial landings summaries track pounds harvested, fishing trips, average dockside price and estimated total value for each species; stone crab landings are reported by claw weight. Those measures describe what the state monitors, but the information cited here does not establish whether stone crab landings have risen or fallen in recent seasons, so it cannot by itself indicate a trend in the fishery.
Friday’s competition and other park events
Friday's VIP Chef Showdown at Lummus Park will feature Battle Burger and Battle Fish Sandwich, with Gonzalo Rubino facing Sam “Jerome” Diedrick in the burger contest and Zakiah Brown competing against Anner Castillo in the fish-sandwich category. Markets of Tomorrow also reported matchups for Battle Ceviche, between Jose M. Hermosa de la Puente and Ken Basulto; Battle Seafood Pasta, between Billy G and Cesar Espinosa; and Battle Shrimp, between Generric Kyles and Daniel Marin.
Visitors can sample the competition dishes and vote. According to Markets of Tomorrow, judges include Jose Mendin, Fernando Desa, Donatella Arpaia and Justin Timineri. The festival's other reported Friday programming includes bartender competitions, Wild Fork Foods live-fire demonstrations with samples from 20 seafood partners, cooking on the Jack Daniel’s Live Stage, Fresh From Florida's Shuck'n the Sunshine State oyster-shucking competition and the Best of the Fest vote.
Wednesday and Thursday dinner programs
The Wednesday Made in Miami dinner at Phuc Yea is a four-course collaboration featuring Cesar Zapata, Jose Mendin, Fernando Desa, Michael Beltran, Eduardo Lara and Eileen Andrade, with Herradura tequila pairings, Markets of Tomorrow reported.
Thursday’s An Evening in Miami Beach program includes two one-night pairing dinners. Rao’s Miami Beach will offer a dinner built around 30 years of Glenfiddich single malt scotch whisky. At Macchialina, chef Michael Pirolo will pair handmade pastas with Jack Daniel’s Tennessee whiskey cocktails and wine, according to the same report.
Charity and additional programming
Festival proceeds benefit the CI Foundation's EAT SMART program, which provides healthy meals and nutrition education through Miami-Dade public schools, according to Markets of Tomorrow and the festival's published information. Markets of Tomorrow also reported that the festival draws more than 16,000 attendees and has received recognition from the Travel Channel, USA Today and Forbes.
The second annual Milam's Markets Home Chef Competition is scheduled to return, with entries due by Sept. 23, 2026. The festival’s four-day schedule runs from the Wednesday dinner through Saturday’s Seafood Slam.
