One on One: Jim Richardson of the Mandeville Seafood Festival 
by Stephen Faure
What does the Seafood Festival do for the community?
People may not realize it, but the Seafood Festival works on a zero-budget each year. We give away every penny we make to charity, with the Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center one of the largest beneficiaries. We have donated money to STARC, World Harvest Outreach, the Covington Rotary Club, Hope House and the Children’s Advocacy Center, the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation, the Mandeville Trailhead and many other worthy organizations.
What are the highlights of the 2008 Seafood Festival?
Well, the biggest thing this year is our new venue at Fontainebleau State Park, instead of the traditional Mandeville lakefront location. We’re partnering with the state’s Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism, which is looking to the festival as the park’s grand re-opening of sorts while it is still recovering from the terrible damage it suffered during the storm.
How will the Fontainebleau location impact the festival?
It’s a tremendous impact. Our goal is to become a regional festival that attracts visitors from Alabama, Florida, Mississippi and Texas, and a larger venue will help do that.
More space lets us go from 30 handicapped parking spaces to more than 100. We’ve added another stage, called the Dew Drop stage, that will feature roots and heritage music—jazz, country, bluegrass and gospel. We’ll have a car show, a boat show and RV parking for folks looking to spend the weekend.
The expanded venue also allows for many more vendors. We had to turn away 110 vendors last year. We’ll have over 100 vendors this year, and no more than two food vendors selling the same item, so there will be more choices.
Our hours will increase, too. We are running from noon to midnight, which means we don’t have to stop the party at 9 p.m. We don’t have to be concerned about disturbing the neighbors out there.
Any special events?
This year is the festival’s 30th anniversary. To celebrate, we’re having a special Thursday night concert on July 3—another first—commemorating the Summer of Love in the 1960s. We’ll start off with local favorites J.J. Muggler, then the ’60s bands from the San Francisco area—It’s A Beautiful Day, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Big Brother and the Holding Company and Jefferson Starship. These are the bands that toured the country from 1967 to 1969, when the extended “summer” ended at Woodstock after stops in New Orleans and Atlanta on the way.
Tickets for the Summer of Love concert will be $40 at the gate, but only $30 if you buy them in advance online.
How much money does the festival expect to give to charity this year?
Last year was the first where we distributed more than $100,000. We’ll do more this year with our great sponsors and volunteers. Their help keeps admission prices to $10 a person, with children under 12, senior citizens over 65 and active-duty military members getting free admission.
Information about volunteering for the July 2-6 Mandeville Seafood Festival can be found at www.seafoodfest.com. Help is needed all through the fest; it’s never too late to volunteer. Volunteers receive free admission and a free t-shirt.
