10,000 pounds: Visitors devour crab at Port Angeles festival

PORT ANGELES — Thousands of visitors from across the United States and Canada on Friday and Saturday set a new record during the 15th annual Dungeness Crab & Seafood Festival, devouring nearly 10,000 pounds of crab by 3:45 p.m., said event coordinator, Scott Nagel.

The festival in downtown Port Angeles began Friday and continues through today.

“We are looking to hunt down more crab now,” Nagel said while observing the cooks Saturday.

“We have a lot of good connections, and High Tides Seafood does a great job getting us crab. We have some more coming in, so we will have plenty” for today.

The festival is free to attend — although the crab and other food costs money — and includes activities from The Gateway pavilion at the northwest corner of Lincoln and Front streets to City Pier, with about 85 vendor booths set up along the way.

Crab dinners and other food is available for purchase in the Kitsap Bank Crab Central Tent, located in the parking lot of the Red Lion Hotel at 221 N. Lincoln St., out on the pier or in and around The Gateway.

The central tent will host Dungenesss Crab Feeds from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. today.

The feeds feature whole Dungeness crab served with organic coleslaw from Nash’s Organic Produce and corn on the cob from Sunny Farms.

Whole crabs average 2 pounds, according to the festival website at www.crabfestival.org.

Whole crabs are available for the market price of $29, with half crab dinners available for $15. Other menu items range from $5 to $16, with some dessert and children’s options available.

Nagel encourages local residents to attend the crab feed today.

“Saturday is always your big day, so Sunday is a nice day to come out,” he said.

Thousands of people attended the festival both Friday and Saturday, Nagel said, although an exact count isn’t currently available.

Steve McCabe, crab dinner booth manager, said Friday and Saturday were both “crazy” busy.

“It has actually been busier than last year,” he said. “I think we probably did another 400 dinners Friday night than we did last year.”

To keep up with demand — McCabe estimates his staff of 15 serves up hundreds of crab per hour at the peak — “what we do is we cook crab first thing in the morning, so we stockpile,” he said.

“We have a bunch on ice that is precooked and then we can reflash it and bring it back up to temp.”

The cooks steams the crabs in four big pots, McCabe said.

“My biggest one is a 40 gallon, down to a 35. I can do about 680 crab an hour.”

And, since the crabs begin the day alive, they can be a hazard to work with, McCabe said.

“My dad [Julian] had one stuck to his finger earlier,” McCabe said.

Julian, who has been cooking crab at the festival since its inception, said caution is need when dealing with the crabs.

“It will draw blood,” he said with a smile.

Visitors turned out in droves to participate in the festival Friday, Nagel said, despite the pouring rain.

“Given the weather and the rain today” it was quite a good turnout on Saturday, he said.

“The festival is now so popular, people are just pouring in from all over the world.”

On Saturday, Hagel said he met two people from New Orleans who told him they flew up just to sample the fresh Dungeness crab, and another couple who flew from Virginia.

Closer to home, Nagel said about 2,500 Canadians have been confirmed to cross over from Victoria on the Coho ferry throughout the weekend.

Among those making the short trip across the water Saturday were Dennis and Jean Grimmer of Victoria, who embarked on the 10:30 a.m. crossing.

The ferry was packed they said.

“You had to sit on the floor,” Jean Grimmer said.“I have never seen it that crowded.”

The crossing was a party atmosphere, Jean Grimmer said.

“Everybody was in a celebratory mode. You could even get champagne on that boat at 10:30 in the morning, and everybody was talking crab.”

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Features Editor Chris McDaniel can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56650, or at cmcdaniel@peninsuladailynews.com.