Source: Southern Delaware Tourism
Five winners from among a nominee list of events, attractions, organizations, and individuals have been chosen by an impartial panel to receive the 2024 Southern Delaware Tourism Awards. The awards were presented on December 13th at the Annual Southern Delaware Tourism Awards Luncheon held at The Lighthouse Cove Event Center in Dewey Beach, DE.
Tourism is a $2.7+ billion (and growing!) industry in Sussex County. In fact, nearly 24,000 jobs in Sussex County are tourism related. And tourism revenue saves each Delaware household nearly $1,800 in taxes each year. This is definitely due, in large part, to our fortunate geographical location and our beautiful 5 Star beaches – but it’s also the result of a lot of initiative, creativity, planning and hard work by the many people and organizations who strive to keep up with evolving travel trends and to create and provide the types of attractions, events, activities, and services that drive visitors to Sussex County.
Southern Delaware Tourism congratulates all of the 2024 nominees. “This year’s voting was extremely close. All of this year’s nominees are very deserving of the award as their contributions help make Sussex County such a special and beloved destination,” says Scott Thomas, Executive Director of Southern Delaware Tourism.
Winners were named in five categories in 2024 including Best New Event, Best Event, Best Attraction, Philanthropic Award, and Tourism Legacy Award. The 2024 Southern Delaware Tourism Awards winners are:
Best New Event: Delaware Seafood Festival: The Inaugural Delaware Seafood Festival, held on August 10, 2024 at the American Legion Post 28 in Millsboro, was an amazing success, drawing 3,000 attendees. Organizers Ryan and Nicole Stephenson of Shore Smoke Seasonings expected their estimated attendance would be around 400 – 500 as they began planning the event. After posting the Facebook event page in late December, 2023 it quickly rose to over 28K people interested. By early March they had sold over 2,000 tickets. Due to DELDOT restrictions, they had to limit tickets sold to 3,000. They continued to receive non-stop calls and emails from people wanting tickets in the weeks leading up to the festival. The festival’s economic impact in 2024 was significant. 19% of ticket holders were from states outside of Delaware with 77% of tickets coming from outside of Sussex County. Additionally, the festival supported 18 food vendors and 104 craft vendors, making it one of the largest vendor markets in the state. The festival also proudly partnered with Inland Bay Oyster Week, Coastal Style Magazine and Southern Delaware Tourism to promote the first-year festivities. The festival in 2024 raised over $5,000 for American Legion Post 28, Millsboro Little League, Ronald McDonald House, Camp Barnes, Getting It Dunn (Ovarian Cancer) and Jusst Sooup Ministries. Festival activities included an oyster shucking competition, cornhole competition, shrimp eating competition, Delaware’s best crab cake restaurant battle, and an 8 person 7LB giant crab pretzel eating challenge. The day also featured 4 local Delaware bands including Lower Case Blues, Captain Mike, Greg Ellingsworth and Dana Wattay. With a change of venue in 2025, the festival will accommodate up to 15,000 attendees. It’s their hope next year’s event will raise $25,000 for local organizations. They estimate the 2025 festival will result in 350 hotel rooms reserved for Friday and Saturday nights generating $175,000 for local hotels, $600,000 for Sussex County restaurants, and $510,000 for local vendors and shops in Sussex County. With alcohol sales, tips, and gas, etc., they estimate the festival will generate close to 1.5 million for Sussex County in 2025.
Best Event: Coastal Delaware Running Festival: The Coastal Delaware Running Festival is an award-winning annual running event (Full Marathon, Half Marathon, 9k and 5k) in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware State Parks, The Town of Lewes, and Dewey Beach that brings approximately 10,000 people consisting of 4,000 plus participants with family and guests to Coastal Delaware for a fun filled weekend in April. The event is an RRCA State Championship Event and awarded Delaware’s Best Half-Marathon promoted locally, regionally, and nationally in all media drawing from over 48 states and multiple countries. The event is owned and produced by Focus Multisports, a Delaware based non-profit multisport company, owned and operated by USAT Level 1 Race Director / USATF Coach Rick Hundley and USAT Level 1 Race Director Ernie Felici. Their events consist of safe, fun, and challenging courses, great swag, and awesome awards. To date, their efforts have yielded approximately $760,000 in charitable donations benefiting many local charities and volunteer organizations. Event highlights include: Boston Qualifying Course, FREE Finish Line Celebration and Post-Race Party, FREE On-Course and Finish Line Photos, Overall and Age Group Awards for all Runs, and more. The course encompasses a scenic route through Rehoboth Beach, Cape Henlopen State Park, and Lewes, finishing on the world famous Rehoboth Beach Boardwalk.
Best Attraction: James Farm Ecological Preserve: The Preserve is the centerpiece of the Delaware Center for the Inland Bays’ youth and public education programming, which aims to help shape informed environmental stewards of all who live in and visit the Inland Bays watershed. The Preserve is also an outdoor recreation resource that is open to visitors every day, from dawn to dusk, free of charge. During fiscal year 2024 (10/1/23 – 9/30/24), the Center reached 2,027 youth and 1,226 public participants through its hands-on, nature-based education programs. Many of these participants were from K-12 schools and community youth groups across the watershed. Public visitation at James Farm in FY24 totaled 34,000. James Farm also has a concessionaire contract with a local eco-tourism company, Eco Bay Kayak & SUP which saw approximately 1,500 customers visit the preserve and immerse themselves in the Indian River Bay. The Preserve also serves as one of the many sites for their Horseshoe Crab Survey, and they have 27 volunteers just for this site. They also host an annual DE Master Naturalist field trip/training, and are currently the largest hosting organization of DE Master Naturalists not only in Sussex County but in the state. In addition, they have 31 trained docents who are the face of the Center at the Preserve and have engaged with over 6,900 visitors this year, providing directions about the Preserve, information, and interactive/educational activities.
Philanthropic Award: Mariah Calagione, Co-founder of Dogfish Head, Social Impact Leader, Boston Beer Company: As the co-founder of Dogfish Head, Mariah launched the company’s Beer & Benevolence program, which is Dogfish Head’s way of giving back to the community that supported them since 1995. Mariah, in partnership with other coworkers, helped concept one of Dogfish Head’s longest annual running events, the Dogfish Dash. Over its 17 years, the event has supported beneficiaries like the Delaware Chapter of the Nature Conservancy, the DE Center for Inland Bays and Sussex County Land Trust. This year the Dogfish Dash raised over $100K for Sussex County Land Trust. Mariah is currently the Director of the Red Wagon Foundation and Draper Holdings Charitable Foundation – both family foundations. Presently she also serves as a board member of the Delaware Community Foundation and in the past served as a trustee of University of Delaware and Delaware’s Chapter of the Nature Conservancy.
Legacy Award: Senator Tom Carper: Senator Carper has long supported tourism in Delaware from his days as State Treasurer, Congressman, Governor up to today, as U.S. Senator and Chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee. He has worked over the years to obtain the federal funding to renourish our state’s five-star beaches, keeping them clean and beautiful, and an attraction for tourists and the many businesses our beach economy supports. Throughout the pandemic, he authored and supported legislation that worked to keep our businesses, hotels, and theaters lights on, and then supported legislation to help those businesses continue to be successful throughout our economic recovery. He is an unwavering supporter of the Delaware Coastal Airport, working to obtain funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation to extend the runway, and through his authoring of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, he has brought hundreds of millions of dollars to Delaware to improve the roads, highways and bridges that connect Southern Delaware to the world.
Past recipients of the annual award include Rehoboth Beach Main Street’s Margarita Crawl, Milton Chamber of Commerce & Friends of Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge Horseshoe Crab & Shorebird Festival, Jolly Trolley, Bethany-Fenwick Area Chamber of Commerce, Marie Mayor, Schellville, 302 Day, Delaware Botanic Gardens, Joshua M. Freeman Foundation, Josh Grapski/La Vida Hospitality, Vietnam Veterans Memorial Moving Wall, the American Legion Family of Post 17, Lewes; Cinema Art Theater, Rehoboth Beach Film Society; Southern Delaware Wine, Food & Music Festival; Delaware Beach Life magazine; Mid Atlantic Sea Glass & Coastal Arts Festival; Fire & Ice Festival; Ladybug Music Festival; Freeman Stage; Delaware State Parks; Dogfish Dash; Winter Wonderfest; Lefty’s Alley & Eats; Delaware Beach Book; Return Day; First Annual BooBQue by the Sea; Cape Henlopen State Park’s Gordons Pond Trail & Junction and Breakwater Trail; Western Sussex Tourism Committee; The Freeman Stage at Bayside; Nassau Valley Vineyards; the Apple Scrapple Festival; Dogfish Head Brewery Tours; the Rehoboth Beach Film Festival; the Lewes Maritime History Trail; the Ocean to Bay Bike Tour; Eating Rehoboth Walking Food Tours; and The Sea Witch Halloween and Fiddlers’ Festival.
