History

The Jubilee Festival is two exciting days filled with arts, crafts, food, entertainment and fun all taking place on the streets of downtown Daphne, aptly called "The Jubilee City." The Eastern Shore Chamber of Commerce hosts this wonderful event each year in cooperation with the City of Daphne. The Festival is growing each year and is enticing many new exhibitors as well as old favorites to the event and the Eastern Shore. 

The Jubilee Festival was created as a way to combine business, tourism and fun while showcasing the City of Daphne. The first planning committee selected the name Jubilee Festival due to the Jubilee phenomenon that occurs in areas around Mobile Bay and most frequently on the Eastern Shore. 

Antiques were featured during the first Jubilee Festival which was held in November 1989. During that first year, Main Street in Olde Towne Daphne was transformed into an "Antique Alley" with 60 vendor booths. In addition to antiques, there were arts and crafts booths as well as food and entertainment. 

Much of this continues today, except that antiques are no longer featured. The Jubilee Festival is a juried visual arts and crafts festival that currently features many artists and crafters from the local area and Southeast region along with entertainment, food court and Kids Art Park. 

In 2017, the festival changed its name to the Jubilee Festival of Arts, highlighting its expanding focus on all aspects of art. The Chamber added Southern Makers demonstrations & partnered with the World Food Championships to offer two qualifier competitions.

The festival embracing a new logo for its 30th Anniversary and added the Jubilee Market and Chef Demonstrations in 2019.

In order to make room for social distancing due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, the Jubilee Festival moved to Lott Park in 2020.

The Jubilee Festival of Arts has become an Eastern Shore tradition offering fun and excitement for visitors of all ages. The Eastern Shore Chamber of Commerce is pleased to provide this honored event for local residents and visitors.