BRINNON — Brinnon’s annual Hood Canal Shrimpfest is canceled this year with its lead organizers citing increased workloads and lack of volunteers as the top reasons.
Phil Thenstedt, president of the Emerald Towns Alliance, said Monday that there just aren’t enough hours in the day to make planning Shrimpfest possible this year.
“We do have a great group of volunteers who have helped out,” he said.
“One of the challenges of living in rural areas like we do is that there’s a limited pool of volunteers.”
This would have been the 25th consecutive year of Shrimpfest, which is typically held over Memorial Day weekend. Each year, the annual two-day festival, a fundraiser for the Emerald Towns Alliance, features live music, vendors, belt sander races and plenty of local seafood, including Hood Canal spot shrimp.
Many volunteers help during the event, but planning takes more work than many would think, Thenstedt said. Among the most time-consuming volunteer positions, he said, is the vendor coordinator job.
That person coordinates with 100 vendors each year as they plan for the event.
It’s a role Thenstedt has been taking on in recent years, among a number of other planning positions.
At this time last year, Thenstedt, who works in sales for a technology company, was working 12 hours a day, six days a week. That has slowed down to 11 hours five days a week this year, still leaving little time for Shrimpfest.
“Unfortunately, I’m unable to dedicate the time required to organize and run Shrimpfest as I’ve done in the past,” he said.
He and the rest of the board that runs Shrimpfest realized recently that they were already about two months behind in planning. Vendors were already calling and they hadn’t made any headway because each of their day jobs have required so much time, he said.
Thenstedt said if the right amount of help comes forward Shrimpfest could be saved this year, but he questioned how successful it would be because it was already canceled.
He said it might be better just to wait until next year.
“If we tried to do that [this year], it would really hurt us,” he said. “If someone was able to do it … it’s something that could be done, but it wouldn’t be as large as what we’ve done in past years.”
He said that even though there won’t be a Shrimpfest this year, there is still a need for help next year. He hopes to see the event continue.
“I’m hopeful we can get people that can come forward,” he said.
Thenstedt said it has been rewarding to see all the money the event has raised for the community. He said the Emerald Town Alliance has been able to donate to the Brinnon School, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, Habitat for Humanity, Center Valley Animal Rescue and others.
“The amount of good we’ve done, we feel good about,” he said. “It’s great to give money back to the community. That is what makes it worth it.”
Anyone who would like to volunteer can email shrimpfest@hotmail.com or call Thenstedt at 253-205-3374.
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Reporter Jesse Major can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56250, or at jmajor@peninsuladailynews.com.
