The Flora-Bama Mullet Toss happens every April at 17401 Perdido Key Drive, on the Florida-Alabama state line, and if you have never been, the concept sounds like something a group of people invented after their third round. They did not. This has been going on for decades.
Contestants step across the Florida line and throw dead mullet fish into Alabama, competing for distance. The Flora-Bama Lounge, a legendary Gulf Coast roadhouse that literally straddles two states, with two zip codes and its own mythology, hosts the event with a full weekend of live music, food vendors and the organized chaos that only the Flora-Bama can produce and make look effortless.
The Flora-Bama has been operating continuously at the state line since 1964. It survived multiple hurricanes, including Ivan in 2004, which destroyed much of the original structure. It rebuilt. That history is part of what makes the Mullet Toss feel like something earned rather than manufactured, this is a place that has been putting on events on the beach for sixty years.
The toss draws enormous crowds. The weekend is loud. Parking requires patience. It smells like fish and salt air and whatever the grill is running. None of that is a deterrent once you are there. The Flora-Bama has a way of making whatever is happening feel exactly right for where you are.
This year's event runs April 26 at the Flora-Bama Lounge, 17401 Perdido Key Drive, Perdido Key. More information at florabama.com.