By Zeb Hargett

For Dharma Blue in Pensacola and Chuck’s Fish in Mobile,  good deeds are always at the forefront of their restaurant's mission plan. This also includes the original eatery, Harbor Docks in Destin, Florida. On a recent Moon Crush music festival weekend in Miramar Beach, Florida, Charles Morgan, Harbor Docks’ founder, invited our group to experience their 29th annual Take A Kid Fishing Day on Sunday, November 3. We loved it! 

The atmosphere was festive as 299 local kids were treated to a day on the water, compliments of the team at Harbor Docks. The day began early, and the kids were fed breakfast before loading 43 boats at 7 am to go fishing, many for the first time in their lives. 

We arrived at 11 am as the boats were beginning to return to the docks with boatloads of smiling faces and a few fish to boot. With parents milling around to greet their arrivals from the high seas, they soon enjoyed a fish fry, and were each given a fishing rod and reel and a T-shirt commemorating the event.

To learn more, I caught up with Eddie Morgan, Charles’ son, who is the Owner and President of Harbor Docks. "We’ve hosted Take a Kid Fishing Day for 29 straight years, well, except for 2020 because of Covid and one year because of bad weather.” He tells me that the goal is to provide opportunities these children might never have. 

“Many of these kids have never been fishing or know anything about it. Some have never even been over the Destin bridge. Destin’s history is steeped in fishing. My dad began as a captain on a sport fishing yacht before he opened Harbor Docks on July 4, 1979, serving cold beer and raw oysters on a picnic table. We wanted to preserve that tradition and do something for the community to expose younger kids to fishing.”

Harbor Docks was one of the few places at the time that served anything at all in the area. My, how it has changed. Eddie tells me,  “I caught my first fish, a catfish, off this dock when I was 4 years old, and I’ve been earning a paycheck from this place since I was 7. At 9, I was a deckhand, and at 14 I moved into the fish market (Harbor Docks Seafood Market), and at 15. I was washing dishes and busing tables.”

A graduate of the University of Alabama in Hospitality Management, Eddie tells me they try to instill a culture of helping people become successful. Until recently, they operated Red Bay Grocery in Red Bay, Alabama, just north of Destin across the Florida state line. There, they had 50 town partners providing a grocery store and café for the community which was operated by Charles and his crew.  

Hosting Take a Kid Fishing Day is a year-round endeavor. “We have volunteers who raise funds to help underwrite the event through a golf tournament and a charity auction. The Ft. Walton Beach High School basketball team helps register kids when they arrive, serves donuts, and helps with the fish fry. Kids and parents are all included. Off-duty firefighters and policemen volunteer as well.” 

To handle the number of charter boats needed, kids register ahead of time. The charter boats are excited to help out, many of whom got their first taste of fishing by participating in the event as kids. Eddie tells me this is important as the event represents much of what is Destin’s identity. 

“It’s expensive to go fishing, and you have to have the knowledge to be successful at it. This gets kids outside and sets up a path for the future. Once you are in it, it’s easy. There are plenty of good jobs in the fishing industry that can take you all over the world. We don’t want the importance of fishing in Destin to be forgotten.”

Eddie credits Jackie Tway Lavin for running the team of volunteers who helped with the event. “She has been an operations manager for over 30 years and knows how to get things done. She is responsible for the charity auction and the Spring golf tournament held at Emerald Bay Golf Club. She’s phenomenal!”

An even bigger celebration occurs on Thanksgiving Day at Harbor Docks when they will feed over 2000 people in the community for free. “We fed the Alabama Men’s Basketball team and coaches last year when they were playing in a tournament in Niceville during Thanksgiving. We have been preparing for several weeks to get ready. While we do feed Thanksgiving meals with all the trimming at several of our restaurant locations, this is by far the biggest group.”

In this season of Thanksgiving, we appreciate all that good people do to give back to others throughout the Scenic 98 Coastal communities, especially at all the fine restaurants in the Harbor Docks family.