JOYCE — Daze (verb): to stupefy especially by a blow.
Joyce Daze (noun): the experience of being stupefied by wild blackberries.
You’ll probably throw down more Rubus ursinus — also called Pacific blackberry, dewberry or Douglas berry — than you’d ever care to quantify if you attend the 35th annual Joyce Daze Wild Blackberry Festival on Saturday. The sweet fruit might even put you in a stupor.
Last year, more than 2,000 people filled Joyce’s downtown streets for the crafts fair, parade, salmon bake, live entertainment, fresh wild blackberry pies, kids’ games and raffle, festival chairman John Kent said.
All proceeds provide scholarships for graduating Crescent High School seniors. In 2016, Joyce Daze funded three $1,000 scholarships, Kent said.
The festival will kick off with a pancake breakfast at the Crescent Grange, 50870 state Highway 112, from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Starting at 9 a.m., vendors ranging from local artisans to nonprofit corporations will line the street for a crafts fair until the festival winds down around 3:30 p.m.
During the fair, the Joyce Fire Department will demonstrate how they safely extract an occupant from a damaged vehicle, Kent said. The Joyce Emergency Planning and Preparation group will also demonstrate how to purify water in case of an emergency.
Blackberry pies start selling at 10 a.m. until they are sold out. Last year, 230 pies sold by 2:30 p.m.
The filling comes from berry pickers who generously donate their hauls to the festival. They tend to keep their favorite picking spots secret, Kent said. Even as chairman of the festival, he doesn’t know the locations of most fields.
“Personally, I don’t know where a lot of these places are,” he said. “It’s like fishing: Nobody wants others to know about their favorite fishing hole.”
Volunteers are always needed to bake pies, sell pie slices, scoop vanilla ice cream and serve breakfast at the Crescent Grange. Today, volunteer pie makers will meet from noon to 3 p.m. For more information, contact joinus@joycedaze.org or call Kent at 716-880-6695.
Those who enter the Joyce Daze Blackberry Pie Contest can also opt to donate their pie to Joyce Daze. Proceeds from the slices will go to the Joyce Grange Scholarship Committee.
Pies will be judged by overall appearance; flavor, color and texture of crust; flavor, color and texture of filling; and creativity. Winners will be announced at about noon.
The grand parade will march along state Highway 112 at 1 p.m. During the parade, the state highway will be closed to traffic from the intersection with Piedmont Road to east of downtown Joyce between 12:30 p.m. and 2:40 p.m. A detour route to bypass Joyce will be available.
If you haven’t reached your fill from blackberries or if you have and want some more variety, the Crescent Bay Lions Club will fire up the grill for a salmon bake from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Mini Mall.
To cap off the festivities, a raffle drawing will take place at 3 p.m., offering themed gift baskets. Tickets cost $2 each or $5 for three. They will be on sale at the pancake breakfast and all day at the Joyce Daze vendor booth.
Baskets include such items as gift certificates for Kokopelli Grill, Blackberry Café and Priscilla’s; camping passes for Carol’s Crescent Beach; games from Port Book and News; family passes for the Feiro Marine Life Center; and hair products from Shear Elegance.
Throughout the day, live music from a stage near the Joyce General Store will punctuate the atmosphere of family fun.
The schedule of events is:
• 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. — Pancake Breakfast at Crescent Grange.
• 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. — Submit pies for judging.
• 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. — Vendor booths open at Joyce Center.
• 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. — Live entertainment at Joyce Depot Museum, 50883 state Highway 112.
• 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. — Fish pond, cotton candy and children’s activities.
• 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. — Blackberry pie sales open while they last at Joyce Depot Museum.
• 10:30 a.m. to noon — Parade judging.
• 11 a.m. to noon — Pie judging.
• 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. — Salmon bake by the Crescent Bay Lions Club at Mini Mall.
• 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. — Grand parade along Highway 112.
• 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. — Clallam County Fire District No. 4 and Elwha police perform equipment demonstrations at Mini Mall.
• 2 p.m. — Cheering contest.
• 3 p.m. — Raffle drawing.
The schedule of live entertainment is:
• 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. — Open mic.
• 10 a.m. — Olympic Mountain Cloggers.
• 10:30 a.m. — Wally Sealy.
• 10:45 a.m. — Hula dancers.
• 11:20 a.m. — Jim Hanson and Friends.
• Noon — Luck of the Draw.
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Reporter Sarah Sharp can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56650, or at ssharp@peninsula dailynews.com.
Blackberry pies sit waiting for sampling by the contest judges at last year’s Joyce Daze. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
