PORT ANGELES — The 10th annual Dungeness Crab & Seafood Festival will kick off today with a community crab feed dinner.
A smorgasbord of dishes, wine and beer will be offered to celebrate the beginning of the North Olympic Peninsula’s nod to everything seafood-related from the region where the Dungeness crab gets its name.
Sponsored by the Peninsula Daily News, the Community Crab Feed will be held from 4 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at City Pier.
Admission to the food, beverages, music stage and more is $27, though a discount coupon appears today on Page 10 of Peninsula Spotlight magazine, included with this edition.
Live music will be performed on Jim’s Pharmacy Stage.
The festival will continue from 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday with vendors, cooking demonstrations, children’s activities, music and, yes, more food at City Pier, The Gateway pavilion and the Red Lion Hotel.
“We’re ready for a big crowd,” said Scott Nagel, crab fest producing director.
15,000 expected
Nagel said about 15,000 people are expected to attend. As much as 10,000 pounds of crab will be consumed.
Admission to the festival is free, and the big-top tent provides covered seating.
Graham Kerr, one of television’s first celebrity chefs who is known as the “Galloping Gourmet,” will host a cooking demonstration at 11 a.m. Saturday at The Gateway.
More than 60 craft and merchant booths will set up on City Pier, along with children’s activities and food vendors.
Environmental and marine exhibits are planned in the education area.
New revival
New to the festival this year is the Crab Revival.
Held from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Sunday, the program will include a nondenominational service with gospel music from the Peninsula Men’s Gospel Singers and Abby Mae & the Homeschool Boys, and food including crepes, crab quiche, a traditional breakfast and beverages.
Details of the Crab Revival and other musical acts appear today in Peninsula Spotlight.
“Fish” for crab at the High Tide Seafood and Wilder Auto Grab-A-Crab Tank Derby on City Pier between 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and between 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.
For a $5 fee, participants can attempt to snag crabs for 10 minutes from large holding tanks using crab snares and bait.
The Crab Volleyball Tournament will be on Hollywood Beach on Saturday and Sunday.
The Crabfest 5-K Fun Run/Walk, with proceeds supporting the college’s women’s basketball program, is set Saturday.
Presenting sponsors of the festival are 7 Cedars Casino Properties, First Federal, Kenmore Air Express and Westport Shipyard Inc.
For more information, visit www.crabfestival.org, email info@crabfestival.org or phone 360-452-6300.
The crab fest guide, produced and distributed last week by the PDN, can be found online at http://tinyurl.com/pdncrabfest.
