What's happening on the Forgotten Coast?

One events calendar from Mexico Beach to Alligator Point

Most event calendars on this coast stop at the county line. Ours doesn't. This one runs the whole stretch of US-98 from Mexico Beach through Port St. Joe and Cape San Blas, across the Franklin County line into Apalachicola, over the bridges into Eastpoint, St. George Island, Carrabelle, and out to Alligator Point. Gulf County, Franklin County, and Mexico Beach in one place, continuously updated.

The full Forgotten Coast calendar

What this calendar covers

Start at the western end in Mexico Beach, where the farmers and craft market sets up at Parker Park and live music runs at the park through the fall. Head east along the coast road through Beacon Hill, home to Gulf County Veterans Memorial Park, then St. Joe Beach and Windmark Beach.

Port St. Joe is the hub. Reid Avenue hosts First Friday Sip and Shop, the Salt Air Farmers' Market runs at George Core Park, and the town closes the street for Halloween. Out on the peninsula, Cape San Blas brings beach cleanups, guided bird walks, and skimboard contests at Rish Recreation Area, with the St. Joseph Bay State Buffer Preserve running tram tours through the pine flatwoods. Indian Pass sits at the end of the road, and inland to the north, Wewahitchka keeps its own rhythm of library bingo, street festivals, and a rodeo at TL James Park.

Cross into Franklin County and the calendar keeps going. Apalachicola has the farmers market on Avenue E, ghost tours leaving from the Chamber of Commerce, and the oldest maritime festival in Florida. Eastpoint and St. George Island bring library programs and lighthouse climbs timed to the full moon. Carrabelle runs a country market at the foot of the Crooked River Lighthouse and lights the grounds with lanterns in the fall. Past that, Lanark Village and Alligator Point mark the eastern edge of what we track.

What a year looks like here

Summer belongs to the water. Scallop season, beach cleanups, sunset and full moon climbs at the Cape St. George Light, and skim contests on the sand at Rish Park.

Fall is the busiest stretch, and it starts on Labor Day weekend when the Florida Scallop, Music and Arts Festival takes over Veterans Memorial Park in Beacon Hill. October is the heaviest month on the calendar: the Forgotten Music Festival on St. Joseph Bay, Porch Fest turning front porches into stages across downtown Apalachicola, the Gulf County Rodeo in Wewahitchka, a free Thursday night concert series in St. Joe Beach, and Halloween street parties in two towns on the same evening. November brings the Florida Seafood Festival to Battery Park in Apalachicola and Lantern Fest to the Carrabelle lighthouse.

Winter and spring run quieter and more local. Library programs, historical society talks, guided preserve walks, and the markets that never stop. The Salt Air Farmers' Market meets the first and third Saturdays year-round. Apalachicola and Mexico Beach take the second and fourth.

A word about time zones

Gulf County straddles the time zone line, and it catches visitors out every year. Wewahitchka runs on Central time. Mexico Beach runs on Central time. Port St. Joe, Cape San Blas, and everything east of them run on Eastern. So a rodeo that starts at seven in Wewahitchka starts at eight if you're driving over from the Cape.

We post every event on this calendar in Eastern and note the Central time alongside it, so you'll see entries read something like 6:00 PM ET / 5:00 PM CT. Check before you drive.