Princeton Rotary Club distributes $15,000 in scholarships from ShrimpFest proceeds

The Princeton Rotary Club recently distributed $15,000 in scholarships to graduating seniors at Princeton High School.

The scholarship funds were raised from last year’s ShrimpFest & Brew Hullabaloo, and Rotarians are gearing up to put on their third annual fest Saturday, June 1, at Rotary Park.

Michael Stutzke, Shrimpfest chairman, said the club works year-round to host the one-day festival. Last year, 7,500 patrons consumed roughly 750 pounds of breaded shrimp. The Rotary is hopeful to improve upon that figure.

The festival will offer 10 different craft beers, an addition to previous festivals. There also will be a dessert food truck to go along with the other food vendors and shrimp. The stage will be moved from its previous location in front of the caboose to the south side of Rotary Park.

Brass from the Past again will perform from 5 to 9 p.m. The Infinity Band will take the stage 1 to 4 p.m. and the Al and Jeanne Brown Jazz will open the entertainment at 11:30 a.m.

The festival runs 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. The daytime hours are geared toward family-oriented activities and the evening is geared more for adults, Stutzke said.

He told the Princeton City Council on Monday that Rotarians are proud to put on a community-oriented event and thankful for all the support received by citizens and the city departments that help prepare the festival.

He said Rotarians also are proud of the money they have raised for graduating seniors to help them continue their academic careers. The proceeds of the festival go toward those scholarships.

“That’s a significant amount of dollars,” Stutzke said.