GUTERSVILLE - The annual St. William Catholic Church Seafood Festival is coming back this September in full-swing for its 51st anniversary. The festival is allowing both dine-in and drive-thru as opposed to last year’s celebration which was limited to only drive-thru because of COVID-19.

The event will be held Friday, Sept. 3 and Saturday, Sept. 4 at the church parish hall (Foley Center), 915 Gunter Ave. in Guntersville. Drive-thru will be the only option on Friday, Sept. 3, and it will be open from 4-6 p.m. On Saturday, Sept. 4, both drive-thru and dine-in are open until items are sold out. Drive-thru will open at 7:30 a.m. and dine-in will open at 10:30 a.m.

Cajun boiled shrimp by the pound, frozen gumbo by the quart and Monks’ bread from St. Bernard Abbey in Cullman will be available from the drive-thru. These options in addition to fresh hot gumbo, fried catfish and barbeque chicken dinners with coleslaw and hushpuppies will be offered in the dine-in area. A limited supply of a new menu item, seafood salad, will also be available to dine-in guests as well as an assortment of homemade desserts prepared by parishioners.

Preparation has already started on the 270 gallons of gumbo that will be frozen until the big weekend. A hot batch of gumbo will be prepared for the dine-in crowd on Saturday morning. Just before the festival begins, 1,000 pounds of shrimp will be boiled and the fried catfish and barbequed chicken will be cooked on Saturday. Prices for the festival are TBA as well as the possibility of live musical entertainment. It has been promised that any important football games will be on the big screen for dine-in guests. More information to come as the big seafood weekend gets closer.