Pensacola’s Foo Foo Festival has announced it’s 2021 schedule of events. Bookended by this year’s 2021 grant recipients Pensacola Little Theatre, Pensacola Opera, Pensacola MESS Hall, LGBTQ+ Stamped, Friends of Downtown, Gulf Coast Quilt Trail and Jazz for Justice, event programming takes place November 4-15 at various locations throughout Pensacola.

Here are some of 2021 Foo Foo Festival event highlights:

  • Gulf Coast Quilt Trail – November 4-15, 2021 – The Gulf Coast Quilt Trail, in partnership with the Pensacola Quilters Guild, is creating a folk art scavenger hunt. By the start of this year’s Foo Foo Festival on November 4, it is the Gulf Coast Quilt Trail’s goal to introduce 20+ new Quilt Blocks around Escambia County, providing a detailed informative map to explore all installations. Each installation ranges in size from two-foot squares up to eight-foot squares. Attendees will also be able to see a live Quilt Block painting demonstration by Louisiana artist Kim Zabbia during the Greater Gulfcoast Arts Festival, or paint their own Quilt Blocks for their home or business as part of a series of painting events.
  • Friends of Downtown Son et Lumiére Digital Projection – November 4-7, Artel Gallery, 223 Palafox Place – At this year’s Foo Foo Festival, Friends of Downtown will present “Son et Lumière,” a form of nighttime entertainment typically presented in outdoor venues of historic significance. A digital projection mapping of the old County Courthouse will allow visitors to witness a spectacular interactive mashup of technology and history, where scenes, people and imagery from 200 years ago come to life.
  • Blue Angels 75th Anniversary Homecoming Air Show – November 5-6, NAS Pensacola, 280 Taylor Rd. – Helping to kick off the Foo Foo Festival’s opening weekend, Pensacola’s beloved Blue Angels will celebrate their 75th Anniversary with a season-closing Homecoming air show, departing from NAS Pensacola and flying high over Pensacola Beach and the Santa Rosa Sound. Gates will open at 8 a.m., and performances will take place at 9:30 a.m. on both days.
  • Great Gulfcoast Arts Festival – November 5-7, Seville Square, 311 E. Government St. – The Great Gulfcoast Arts Festival is one of the highest-regarded, most popular art festivals in the U.S. The three-day, juried art show draws more than 200 of the Nation’s best painters, potters, sculptors, jewelers, graphic artists and craftsmen to the destination each year. Live musicians hit all the right notes from the Main Stage with sounds ranging from Bluegrass to Cajun, Jazz to Classical and more. Craft artists demonstrate traditional arts, crafts and trades, including blacksmithing, engraving, spinning, weaving and other skills in the Heritage Arts Area. Children also become artists at the Children’s Arts Festival, with free fun geared toward children both toddler age and older.
  • Pensacola MESS Hall Events November 6, 11 & 13-14, Downtown Pensacola – The mission of the Pensacola MESS Hall is to inspire curiosity, experimentation, and creative problem solving through exploration of math, engineering, science, and stuff, while aspiring to attract and create a community of critical and creative thinkers of all ages who are inspired by and understand the basic principles of science. The Pensacola MESS Hall will present a pop-up Games Garden and other game-themed programming throughout the festival dates, engaging passersby and attendees in games of chance, physics, math and more.
  • Pensacola Opera Veterans Day Salute – November 11, Hunter Amphitheatre, Community Maritime Park, 301 W. Main St. – On Veteran’s Day, the Pensacola Opera will host a complimentary concert honoring the Pensacola community’s veterans. Performed in the Hunter Amphitheatre, the Veteran’s Day Salute will feature four vocal soloists and the Pensacola Symphony performing patriotic selections along with members of the Pensacola Children’s Chorus, Pensacola Opera Chorus, Choral Society of Pensacola and University of West Florida music students. The Veteran’s Day Salute will serve as an extension of the commemorations that will take place earlier that day at Veterans Memorial Park at 11 a.m.
  • STAMPED Film Festival – November 12 – 14, Pensacola Cultural Center, 400 S. Jefferson St. – STAMPED Film Festival is dedicated to providing a vibrant cultural experience to Pensacola by using the unique expression of films with a specific focus on the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community to foster awareness, inclusion, and diversity. The vibrant three-day film series will take place November 11-13 from 5 to 9 p.m. and will conclude with a family-friendly showcase on Saturday full of food, games, activities and films running from Noon to 9 p.m.
  • Jazz for Justice – November 14, Seville Quarter, 311 E. Government St. – In its fifth year with the Pensacola Foo Foo Festival, Jazz for Justice plans to expand its cultural and musical offerings by bringing well-known musicians and local artists together for a unique jazz and blues festival in Downtown Pensacola’s Seville Quarter. Jazz for Justice is a premier annual jazz event benefiting the Legal Services of North Florida, a nonprofit organization that serves low-income individuals and families across the Florida panhandle by providing free civil legal help to eligible clients. This year will include elements such as photo booths and sketch artists to celebrate the Pensacola art community in addition to great jazz music.
  • A Celebration of Art: An Immersive 3-D Projection Experience – November 11-14, Pensacola Little Theatre (400 S. Jefferson St.) and Pensacola Museum of Art(407 S. Jefferson St.) – Pensacola Little Theatre plans to make the biggest, safest, and most dramatic statement at Foo Foo Festival 2021 with an outdoor, COVID-friendly projection series. In partnership with the Pensacola Museum of Art and Ballet Pensacola, Pensacola Little Theatre will wow tourists and locals alike with a double-trouble projection bouncing back and forth between the Pensacola Museum of Art and Pensacola Little Theatre buildings to give audiences twice the bang for their artistic buck – with live performances, music, cocktails, and beyond to make culture come alive in Downtown Pensacola. 

For a detailed festival FAQ, general information, continuing news, and general updates visit FooFooFest.com or follow Foo Foo Festival on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

ABOUT FOO FOO FESTIVAL COVID-19 PRECAUTIONS:

This year’s events will be held with COVID-safe procedures in mind. As concerns around the Delta variant grow nationally, Foo Foo Fest organizers are taking all precautions possible to ensure that the health of its organizers and attendees will be kept top of mind, including the institution of COVID-safe protocols and enhancement of outdoor spaces to allow for social distancing. The Foo Foo Fest team will continue to monitor developments surrounding COVID-19 and the Delta variant leading up to November’s events and will fully cooperate with any instructions heeded for Escambia County by local and state officials and the CDC.

ABOUT FOO FOO FESTIVAL:

For more information on the 2021 Pensacola Foo Foo Festival, visit FooFooFest.com or follow Foo Foo Festival on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

ABOUT ART, CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT, INC. (ACE):  

ACE is a nonprofit organization that receives Federal, State of Florida, Escambia County, City of Pensacola, corporate, foundation and personal funds. ACE disperses these funds through an equitable granting process to nonprofit arts, culture and entertainment organizations throughout Escambia County, Fla., and promotes Escambia County as an arts and cultural destination through the annual Foo Foo Festival and other marketing efforts. For more information about ACE, visit www.acepensacola.org.