After botched festival year, Palatka commissioners urge review; community volunteers offer to lead revival

The Palatka City Commission asked staff to assemble an after-action report on the 2025 Blue Crab Festival after residents and vendors told the commission the event’s planning and vendor payment process broke down this year.

Several public commenters said they had provided tents, tables and services to the event and had not been paid on schedule. One vendor told the commission he had lost $8,000 and had traveled to two city meetings to request help. The city manager and city attorney said staff had performed due diligence and that the city had no contractual obligation to pay private vendors a festival organizer had contracted with; staff also said the city did provide some services valued at more than $35,000 and that it had identified unpaid vendors that would need direct follow-up.

At a separate public town-hall meeting this week, community members urged that the Blue Crab Festival be returned to local, volunteer led organization and offered to help reconstitute the event with more advance planning. Commissioners said they were open to a locally run festival model but asked staff for specifics: an after-action report, vendor lists, copies of contracts and a clear statement of outstanding obligations. One commissioner suggested the city could contract a local event planner on an as-needed basis if staffing capacity is a problem.

No formal financial compensation decisions were made at Thursday’s meeting. Commissioners asked staff to provide written follow-up and said they wanted greater transparency about communications that advised vendors to appear at commission meetings to seek redress.