Lillian’s Mullet Festival Marks 40 Years of Races, Tosses and Small-Town Tradition

LILLIAN, Ala. — One of the Gulf Coast’s quirkier holiday traditions is turning 40. The Optimist Club of Perdido Bay will host the 40th Annual Labor Day Mullet Festival on Monday, Sept. 7, 2026, bringing the usual mix of races, fried fish, live music and family games back to two Widell Avenue venues in Lillian.

The festival has been a Labor Day fixture in the small Baldwin County community for four decades, and organizers say the formula has not changed much: early-morning races at the park, a full day of food and activities at the community club, and proceeds that go straight back to local children and teens. Lillian sits on the eastern edge of Baldwin County near the Florida line, and the festival has long served as a reunion for families scattered along the Perdido Bay and Innerarity Point communities.

Race Morning at Lillian Recreational Park

The day begins at Lillian Recreational Park, 33914 Widell Avenue, with registration for the Run for the Mullet 5K Run/Walk from 6 to 7 a.m. A flag presentation is scheduled for 7:15 a.m., followed by the start of the 5K at 7:30 a.m. The 5K has become one of the more popular Labor Day weekend races on the Eastern Shore, drawing runners from Mobile, Pensacola and the Orange Beach area.

Age-group awards and a runners’ party follow the race. At 8 a.m., younger and less competitive participants get their turn with the Mullet Fun Run, held inside the park with the start and finish near the center pavilion. The Fun Run has become a favorite of families with small children, and strollers and leashed pets are a common sight along the short course.

Breakfast, Auction and the Famous Mullet Toss

Across town at the Lillian Community Club, 34148 Widell Avenue, festival activities open with breakfast from 7 to 9 a.m. Breakfast plates cost $5, and children 8 and younger eat free. The community club has been the festival’s home base for as long as most residents can remember, and the smell of griddle-cakes and sausage is reliably part of the morning routine in Lillian.

A silent auction and bake sale run from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., giving early arrivals first shot at donated goods and home-baked treats. The event’s signature attraction — the Mullet Toss — is scheduled from 10 a.m. to noon, with age-level prizes awarded at 12:30 p.m. in the Main Hall. The toss gets its name from the fish, not the hairstyle, and contestants compete to see who can throw a mullet the farthest down a marked lane.

Lunch, Music and Drawings

Lunch will be served from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at $12 a plate, again with free meals for children 8 and younger. Diners can choose a mullet, catfish or barbecue sandwich plate, each served with potato salad, baked beans, dessert and tea. The mullet plates — fried and served the way the festival has done them for years — tend to sell out fastest, and regulars are advised to arrive close to 11 a.m. to be sure of getting one.

Live music runs from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The festival wraps up at 2:15 p.m. with a 50/50 drawing and an Optimist quilt drawing, and winners do not need to be present to collect. The quilt is a tradition in its own right, with the design typically featuring local landmarks and the year of the festival.

Proceeds Go to Local Kids

The Optimist Club of Perdido Bay is a volunteer service organization whose slogan — “Bringing Out the Best in Kids for 41 Years” — predates the festival itself. The club says every dollar of festival profit funds activities, programs and scholarships for children and teens in the Lillian and Perdido Bay area.

Race registration information for the 5K Run/Walk and Fun Run is available at OptimistClubPB.org, and additional details are available from Robin Newell at 402-677-3944. Online registration typically closes the day before the race, but in-person registration is available at the park on race morning.

Commemorative 40th-Anniversary Shirts

The club also offered commemorative T-shirts for the 40th annual festival, priced at $20 for youth XL and adult small through XL, and $22 for adult 2XL through 4XL. The design marks three milestones at once: 40 years of the festival, the club’s 41 years of service and the nation’s 250th anniversary.

Shirt orders were due Aug. 8, with prepaid shirts available for pickup at the pre-festival workday at 10 a.m. on Sept. 5 or at the festival itself at the Lillian Community Club. A small number of commemorative shirts are typically available for walk-up purchase at the festival while supplies last.

A Tradition That Keeps Going

For Lillian, the 40th Mullet Festival is both a fundraiser and a reunion — a Labor Day tradition that has outlasted four decades of changes in a fast-growing corner of Baldwin County, and one that organizers show no sign of slowing down. The community has grown steadily since the festival began, but organizers say the day’s mix of races, food, music and small-town fun has only gotten more popular as new families move in.

Volunteers from the Optimist Club begin setting up the week before, and dozens of local businesses contribute food, supplies and prizes. It is, in many ways, a community-wide production more than a single event — the kind of tradition that defines small-town life on the western edge of the Florida Panhandle.

Where to Stay and What to Know Before You Go

Lillian is a small community, and parking near the Lillian Recreational Park and the Lillian Community Club fills up quickly on festival morning. Visitors are encouraged to arrive early and to bring folding chairs, sunscreen, and a cooler for the wait between the race and the start of the lunch service. Local lodging options in Lillian and the surrounding Perdido Key area tend to book up well in advance of Labor Day weekend, so anyone planning to stay overnight should reserve early.

A Look Back at 40 Years

Festival organizers say the first Mullet Festival drew a few hundred people to Lillian’s community club, with most of them being local fishermen and their families. The event has grown steadily since, adding the 5K race, the silent auction, the live music and the quilt drawing that have become staples. Past commemorative quilts are displayed inside the community club, and longtime residents often point to them as a visual record of how the festival has changed — and how much of it has stayed the same.

How the Festival Has Helped Local Causes

Over the past four decades, the Mullet Festival has funded Optimist Club projects that include youth sports leagues, college scholarships for Perdido Bay-area students, and contributions to local schools and youth programs. The Optimist Club of Perdido Bay has used festival proceeds to help fund Little League teams, summer camp sponsorships and the kind of small grants that often make the difference for families who cannot afford registration fees. Organizers say the 40th-anniversary festival is on track to add meaningfully to that record.

Getting There and Getting Around

Lillian sits about 15 minutes west of Pensacola and just across the state line from Perdido Key. Visitors coming from Mobile can take I-10 west to the Lillian exit, then follow State Route 98 west into town. Once at the festival, most attendees park along Widell Avenue and walk between the two venues. Bike racks are available at the Lillian Recreational Park for cyclists, and the Optimist Club encourages carpooling because the festival draws several hundred more vehicles than the small community is used to absorbing on a single day.

What the Festival Has Meant to Past Chairs

Past festival chairs of the Optimist Club of Perdido Bay say the event has been a defining part of their lives in Lillian. Many started out as volunteers in their twenties and thirties, working the race registration tables or manning the silent auction, and over time moved into leadership roles. The 40th-anniversary festival is expected to draw some of those past chairs back for the day, with organizers planning a brief recognition ceremony during the lunch break. For longtime residents, the festival is less a single event than a rolling reunion that happens to fall on the first Monday in September each year.

How to Support the Festival If You Can’t Attend

Residents and friends of the Optimist Club who cannot attend the festival in person can still support its mission by donating to the club directly, sponsoring a child for the 5K or the Fun Run, or purchasing a raffle ticket in advance. The club also accepts donations of items for the silent auction and the bake sale, both of which are major fundraisers in their own right. Past donations have ranged from homemade pies and quilts to weekend getaways at Perdido Key condos, and the variety of items is part of what makes the silent auction such a popular part of the festival.