AJ's to Host 60th Annual Destin Fishing Rodeo

The Destin Fishing Rodeo isn’t changing its October address. The Rodeo’s board of directors voted that AJ’s Seafood and Oyster Bar would, once again, be the host of the 2008 and 2009 Destin Fishing Rodeos.

AJ’s and Legendary’s HarborWalk Marina both submitted bids in August to host the 60th Destin Fishing Rodeo next year and again in 2009. “Both bids were very competitive,” said Rodeo executive director Helen Donaldson. “But we just couldn’t discount everything that AJ’s has done for us in the past. We are looking forward to being back at AJ’s.”

AJ’s has been the home of the Rodeo since 2002. Donaldson said ultimately the construction at HarborWalk Village made the Rodeo’s board a little uneasy but she hopes to see a bid from HarborWalk again in the future. “HarborWalk Village is still a little bit unknown, but they submitted a very attractive bid, and we are all looking forward to the things that they’ve got planned in the future and seeing those things come to fruition,” she said.

This year’s Rodeo board president, Tim Broom of Half Hitch Tackle, said the lengths that all of the people at AJ’s go day-in and day-out during the month of October is really what sets the venue apart. “AJ’s has always taken very good care of the Rodeo,” he said. “They’re always great, if anything breaks, the maintenance guys are down there and boom! It’s fixed. We tell them that we need more space for spectators, the next day we have more bleachers. They’ve always been good about that. We have a really good working relationship with them.”

Published on Saturday, November 10, 2007