07/08/2025
Cortez Stone Crab Festival 2025: After much thoughtful consideration, we have made the difficult decision not to host the Cortez Stone Crab Festival this year.
The aftermath of last year’s hurricanes brought significant challenges to our beloved historic village. Among the impacted was the Cortez Bait & Seafood office, which was flooded along with numerous other properties. In a community like Cortez, rich in heritage and protected as a historic district, permits, approvals, and construction projects are not only more complex but often take longer to complete.
Rather than rush forward with an event that deserves our full energy and attention, we have chosen instead to continue pouring our time, love, and resources into rebuilding and improving. Over the past nine months, our teams have been hard at work making long-overdue improvements to Cortez Kitchen, Swordfish Grill, Cortez Bait & Seafood, and N.E. Taylor Boatworks. Our owner, John, has not yet been able to return to his home, which was destroyed by floodwaters. This stands as a sobering reminder of just how deeply the storms impacted every level of our family-run operations.
This pause is not a goodbye. It is a recalibration. We are leaning into growth, resilience, and thoughtful progress, knowing that Cortez is on the cusp of inevitable changes as new development reaches our shores. Our goal is to preserve the heart and soul of commercial fishing in Cortez while evolving to meet what lies ahead.
The Cortez Stone Crab Festival has always been about honoring our hardworking stone crabbers, celebrating our commercial fishing roots, and gathering with our community. Sometimes, continuing that legacy starts by rebuilding the home front.
🎶 Stay tuned. This fall, we plan to introduce a "Mini Stone Crab Celebration" with live music and stone crab specials at both Cortez Kitchen and Swordfish Grill. Think small concert series, big flavor, and the same local love you have come to expect.
We thank you for your continued support, patience, and belief in what we are building, both literally and figuratively. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for being part of the Cortez story.
-The Cortez Family of Businesses
Cortez Kitchen • Swordfish Grill & Tiki • Cortez Bait & Seafood • N.E. Taylor Boatworks
