As a festival steeped in nearly 50 years of tradition, every iteration of Marathon’s largest yearly celebration adds to a stockpile of unique stories. 2022 was no exception, as two stories were brought to the attention of Keys Weekly that were too fun not to share.
Diamonds are a girl’s best friend, but at the Seafood Festival, pearls are just about the best you can do. For Jessica Bonerigo, a 2006 graduate of MHS, an order of a dozen raw oysters turned into a solid investment as she found not one, but two pearls hiding in the same oyster. “I’ve been eating oysters since I was 10 and have never found a pearl before,” said Bonerigo. “I guess it was my lucky day.”
OG t-shirt: An inaugural seafood festival T-shirt from 1976 is a rare find in Marathon. Which makes it even more incredible that Tom Tierney picked one up for himself in a thrift shop more than 200 miles away – and paid his first visit to the festival because of it.
“My wife loves her thrift stores,” he said. “We bought a place in Stuart about five years ago, and I think what originally appealed to her about the shirt was the actual lobster. We do love seafood, and trust me, every time I wear the shirt we get comments.” Curious about the origins of the thrift store find, the couple took to the internet.
“I felt bad that I wore a Marathon Seafood Fest T-shirt and never actually attended, so this year we decided to check it out and hit the Keys,” said Tierney. “We had a great trip, and that shirt got even more comments!”
