Winter Bay Day | Friends of St. Joseph Bay Preserves

Join Us Saturday, February 1st, 2025 for our popular Winter Bay Day! 9am – 3pm EST

Friends of St. Joseph Bay Preserves present a day of education, shrimp and music. Learn about the preserves and life along the bay. There will be lots to see and lots to do. Best of all, the Low Country Shrimp Boil will be delicious – as always! Meet you on the deck of the Visitor Center! … no admission fee!

3915 State Road 30A, Port St. Joe, Florida 32456

On the Deck: The Visitor Center Deck will have the low country boil and drinks, picnic tables, a silent auction, live music, and stunning views of St. Joseph Bay.
Low Country Shrimp Boil: 11am – 2pm EST $15 Donation
Live Music Throughout the Day: Crossroad Bluegrass Band – music for saints and sinners.

Guided Tram Tours: The Buffer Preserve staff will have tram rides throughout the day that will showcase the backwoods trails of the Buffer Preserve. Explore the preserves on a guided tram tour through the backwoods trails of the Buffer Preserve and learn about the native animal and plant life. Tours depart from the Visitor Center. Reservations are recommended and will be available on the deck at the Bay Day event. Bay Day tram tour seating will be first come first served. Departure Times: 9:00am, 10:00 am, 11:00am, 12:00pm, & 1:00pm EST.

Exhibitors & Demonstrations: Exhibitors at Bay Day will have displays set up to share information about water quality, recreational opportunities, seagrass research and monitoring, urchins, scallops (touch tank), updates to the State Park, turtles, fossils, shorebirds, and so much more of the great environmental work that is done in and around St. Joseph Bay! All the environmental displays will be located down on the grass by the observation tower and along the back of the lodge.
Winter Bay Day Exhibitors Include:
Central Panhandle Aquatic Preserves, St. Andrews & St. Joseph Bays Estuary Program, St. Joseph Peninsula State Park, Rish State Park, Gulf County UF/IFAS, Audubon Florida, Indian Pass Turtle Patrol,
Florida Coastal Conservancy/Forgotten Coast Sea Turtle Center,
Friends of Gulf County Library, International Dark Sky/Capture the Dark, FWC/Fish and Wildlife Research Institute – Bay Scallops
FWC/Fisheries-Independent Monitoring Program.

Silent Auction and Raffle: Our silent auction and fun raffle have lots of donations from our community partners that support our Mission to advocate for the St. Joseph Bay Aquatic Preserve and State Buffer Preserve, and to support the education on those key issues that are important in keeping the bay and preserve one of the most pristine areas in the world. These silent auction items cover a wide range of things such as chef at home experiences, fishing charters, art, dining gift certificates and much more! We have options to bid on the specific item or buy it now pricing. Either way, you take all items home that day and have a chance to be a raffle winner.

Birding Tour at Salinas Park Bayside: Collette Lauzau, Shorebird Program Manager-Audubon Florida, will be leading the 2 hour bird tour around St. Joseph Bay during Bay Day. Participants meet at Salinas Park Bayside (280 Cape San Blas Rd, Port St. Joe, FL 32456) at 8:30am EST.
“We will bird that area and potentially drive a short distance to a second location that I will scout before the birding walk just to see if there will be birds foraging the flats. The meeting time will be at 8:30 am and if the second location is active, we will probably end at 10:30 am. Regular walking shoes should be fine. It would be great for participants to bring binoculars.”

The Bay Day events are located at the St. Joseph Bay State Buffer Preserve Visitor Center, 3915 State Road 30-A (C-30), Port St. Joe, Florida 32456.
Bay Day is presented by Friends of St. Joseph Bay Preserves, Inc., Central Panhandle Aquatic Preserves, and the St. Joseph Bay State Buffer Preserve. All proceeds to benefit the Friends of St. Joseph Bay Preserves.
For more information: Call 850-229-1787 or Send Us an Email

Everyone working together . . . makes any event successful! This was certainly the case for the 18^th Winter Bay Day held on February 8^th at the St. Joseph Bay Buffer Preserve. Just 5 plates less than 500 served made the day outstanding and even record-breaking in some areas.

Board members, volunteers and staff at the Preserve were ecstatic at the number of participants, dedicated volunteers, and supporting agencies and organizations setting up informational displays. Winter and Fall Bay Day events have returned after a year following Hurricane Michael. It has been a long road back and thankfully a successful one.

Dylan Shoemaker, Manager of the Preserve, proudly expressed with great enthusiasm, “how pleased we are with such a great turnout. After having to postpone Bay Day for over a year we were a little apprehensive about its return to the area. Attendance exceeded our expectations for which we are thankful. Our returning volunteers, year after year, provide consistency and allows us to grow and improve. Thanks to everyone for making Winter Bay Day 2020 one of the best ever!”

Four TRAM Tours were offered and were filled to capacity. The regularly scheduled Third Thursday on February 20^th was also filled to capacity. If you have not experienced the tour join us. Twenty-six lucky people who have registered tour the heart of the preserve. For Fall and Winter Bay Day there is no early registration. If interested in the March TRAM Tour call 850-229-1787 as quickly as possible as several seats are already reserved.

Jonathan Brucker, St. Joseph Bay Aquatic Preserve Manager, was also excited with the turnout and the interest in St. Joe Bay and the concern for continued watching and protecting the bay. Jon and his staff cheerfully explained maps, brochures and the mission of the Aquatic Preserve to any and all who wanted to listen. He had this to say about the event, “Educating the public is first and foremost in our mission at the St. Joseph Bay Aquatic Preserve. Bay Day visitors and locals want to know how they can help us recover from the effects of Hurricane Michael. We have been so impressed with everyone’s sincere offers to assist clean-up in any way possible. Jon reported that signage for the bay will be replaced as quickly as possible.

“What a great day we had Saturday! The weather was perfect, the music was toe-tapping wonderful, the beer was cold, the shrimp were delicious and what a crowd! I had so many compliments on our event, with most saying they had missed us and were so glad we were back”, says Board President, Lynda White.