ROCKPORT, Texas — The 2021 Rockport-Fulton Seafair will take place this weekend October 8-10 at the Festival Grounds at Rockport Harbor.
While the popular event is still promising to have three full days of food, music, and fun, they announced on Wednesday that they will not be able to host a carnival this year.
“The impacts of Covid-19 on the carnival industry, as well as upcoming construction projects around the beach parking areas, have forced the carnival company, which has been with the festival for more than 40 years, to pull out of this year’s Seafair Festival,” organizers said in a press release.
Tommy Moore with the Aransas County Navigation District says the company was informed they would not be able to set up in the usual location due to the parking lot being paved, and unfortunately the organizers and the carnival company could not agree on the alternate options provided.
"We told them we could not have it on the new parking lot, it is going to tear it up with the big trucks," Moore said,
Organizers like Karl Hattman said over the past several weeks they have been trying to find a different carnival to fill the vacancy, but after searching over 20 carnivals across the state of Texas, many of them were either out of business due to pandemic cancellations or already booked.
"Last year every part of their business was shut down, events including our own were shutdown, so the carnival that would come here could not make their numbers work in the new spot," Hattman said.
Because of this, the festival is hoping to bring new activities for children and family to enjoy. Additionally, they announced that admission to the festival this year for children 12 and under will be free.
Pre-sale wristbands for adults are available for $20 to get into the festival all weekend. Regular daily tickets are $12 each. You can purchase your tickets here.
If you’d like to see the full event lineup for the three day festival, click here.
