A popular Birmingham food festival has announced who will be honored with this year’s Frank Stitt Award for Industry Excellence.
Southbound Food Festival, formerly known as the Birmingham FOOD + Culture Festival, announced today that it will honor Oyster South founders Bill and Beth Walton as the 2025 recipients of the Frank Stitt Award for Industry Excellence, which honors individuals whose work “preserves, celebrates and shapes Southern foodways.”
Bill Walton is currently the senior professor of the Marine Science and Shellfish Aquaculture Program Coordinator at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science at William & Mary. Previously, he was the director of the Auburn University Shellfish Lab on Dauphin Island, Ala., where his research and mentorship helped develop a thriving, science-driven future for sustainable oyster farming across the Gulf Coast.
Beth Walton, a marine biologist and former oyster farmer herself, is the executive director of Oyster South, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting Southern oyster farming and connecting communities to healthy waters and good food.
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Southbound Food Festival is a 10-day celebration of Birmingham’s food culture and will take place Sept. 19 through Sept. 28 this year. The Waltons will be recognized during the festival’s signature kickoff event, the Heritage Dinner: Coastal Traditions on Sept. 19.
The dinner will include hors d’oeuvres, followed by a multi-course, family-style meal under the stars, with celebrated chefs from across the state and region collaborating on the menu collaborate on the menu.
“Beth and Bill Walton, founders of Oyster South, have played a pivotal role in advancing oyster farming and championing the success of hundreds of oyster farmers from New England to the Gulf Coast,” Chef Frank Stitt said. “Through their pioneering work, guidance and expertise in aquaculture, countless individuals have built prosperous livelihoods by farming and cultivating the best-tasting oysters while improving the ecological balance of our vital wetlands.”
Tickets for the Heritage Dinner will go on sale July 7. For more information, visit the Southbound Food Festival’s website.
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