BRINNON — Off-and-on rainfall Saturday failed to dilute the fun and food at the 10th annual Brinnon Shrimp Festival, which continues today.
If how fast the Hood Canal spot shrimp flies out of the cooler is any measure, this festival was very successful.
The $7 bags of the native shrimp sold out fast.
By 1 p.m. Saturday, only shipped-in Honduran shrimp was to be found, a close second place in taste to the local shrimp that resident fishers liken to gold, with a taste as good as lobster.
“They were sucked outta here in nothing flat,” said festival organizer Karen Sickel, who saw 280 bags of 22 cleaned spot shrimp vanish in three hours.
The local shrimp were harvested during the canal’s shrimp season 1½ weeks ago.
As backup when the local shrimp are gone, Honduran shrimp shipped in by a Seattle company are served up for festival-goers.
The shrimpfest, which is on a grassy part of Dosewallips State Park east of Highway 101, continues from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. today.
“Unbelievable” was the way Sickel described Saturday’s turnout.
But he added that the turnout was not as big as last year’s event, which on an unusually sunny and warm Memorial Day weekend drew more than 9,000 people.
But Sickel said getting half that turnout would be a success.
