Orange Beach Mayor Tony Kennon issued a statement Sept. 10 regarding the cancellation of the Annual National Shrimp Festival in Gulf Shores Oct. 7-10. In it he vows to hold some type of replacement event on the same weekend in Orange Beach.

The statement from Kennon read:

“I want to apologize to all of those people who made plans – some of you many, many months ago – to come to Orange Beach and Gulf Shores for the Shrimp Festival. Please understand that we had nothing to do with the decision to cancel this outdoor event and we are going to do our best to try to put together a good old fashioned one or two-day event on that same weekend of Oct. 9-10, which also includes the Brooks & Dunn concert at The Wharf and The Addams Family Musical Comedy dinner theater at the Orange Beach Event Center. The city of Orange Beach is working quickly to explore creating a fun Arts Weekend at The Wharf to give those artists, who were part of the canceled Shrimp Fest, a chance to sell their wares and make a living. People have the right to choose what they wish to attend and decide the risk they are willing to take, just like sitting in a sold-out football stadium with a hundred thousand other folks. We know that it is late notice and we may not be able to pull this off, but we do need to make a statement that this virus will not dominate and control our lives.”