American Legion Post 59’s

Catfish Festival coming April 12

Supporting our Veterans

Visitors at the 2022 Catfish Festival. -SVT Archived Photo

By Tami Stevenson

Catfish fans and music lovers get your lawn chairs ready! The 2025 Suwannee River Catfish Festival is coming to Branford once again at Greenway Park, Saturday, April 12, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Sadly, the festival was almost disbanded as the original organizers suffered the loss of two of their integral board members but Branford’s American Legion Post 59 decided to step up and keep this ever-popular, veteran supporting event going.

“We will have live music from start to finish,” said volunteer Brenda Wagenman, “food venders, arts and crafts venders and, of course, we will still have catfish dinners.”

Wagenman has been a volunteer for the event for years and will continue with the American Legion. She said they raised the catfish dinners to $10 this year. “It had been $8 for years and we decided it was time to raise that.”

The Kentucky Sleepy Hollow Bluegrass Band performing at the Catfish Festival in 2022. -SVT Archived Photo

She said not much will change under the new management. They will still support the Fisher House Foundation in Gainesville. The Fisher House program is a unique private-public partnership that supports America’s military in their time of need and offers shelter and support during a medical crisis for the families of veterans at no cost to the veterans and their families.

In addition to helping the Fisher House, the festival normally awards two scholarships from the proceeds of each event to local students that compete for the best essay relating to the history of the town of Branford and the Suwannee River. This year, however, they decided to opt out of school scholarships. They wanted to ensure the funds were going to be there to pay for all of the costs involved in putting on an event such as this.

Wagenman said for the music lineup, The Kentucky Sleepy Hollow Bluegrass Band will kick everything off at 9 a.m. Next up, Black River Harvester Band and finally Faster Than Flash will be the final band, closing out the event that ends at 4 p.m.
A DJ will also be broadcasting music at the other end of the festival, so visitors will have music throughout the grounds all day.

Volunteer Nathan Daughtrey created a new website for the Suwannee River Catfish Festival, visit www.americancff.com. 

“We want to invite everyone to come out to help support our veterans,” Wagenman added.