JOYCE — The summertime combination of blackberries, pie, a parade and music will be celebrated at the 31st annual Joyce Daze Wild Blackberry Festival today.
As always, the festival’s centerpiece — a huge supply of wild blackberry pie, with vanilla ice cream to put on top — will be on sale from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Joyce Depot Museum, located at 50883 state Highway 112 next door to the Joyce General Store in the community west of Port Angeles.
At least 300 blackberry pies are expected to be on sale.
All are made with locally picked wild blackberries, which are in plentiful supply this year, said Ed McKay, Joyce Daze festival chairman.
‘They are sweet’
“I’ve been picking some on my property, and they are sweet,” McKay said.
Today’s festivities also include the homemade blackberry pie contest — sponsored by the Peninsula Daily News — beginning at 11 a.m.
Pies for the competition can be dropped off for judges between 9 a.m. and 10:55 a.m. at the Joyce Depot Museum.
This year, the contest will have separate categories for adult and youth pie bakers, McKay said.
The pies must be made using the small, wild blackberries that are found growing low to the ground, common to the North Olympic Peninsula, and each must be a two-crust pie, he said.
In the adult category, prizes are $50 for first place, $25 for second place and $25 for third place. In the youth category, it is $25 for first and $15 each for second and third.
The prizes are paid by the PDN in Port Angeles Downtown Dollars, which can be used like cash at downtown restaurants and merchants.
The festival opens this morning with a pancake breakfast from 7 a.m. through 11 a.m. at the Crescent Grange, 50870 state Highway 112.
Cost is $4 for adults and $2 for children.
A salmon bake continues the gastronomic pleasures.
The Crescent Bay Lions Club fundraiser includes salmon, baked beans, cole slaw, garlic bread and a lemonade from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the mini-mall across the street from the Joyce General Store and museum.
Cost is $12 for adults and $7 for children.
Grand Parade
The Grand Parade will take over state Highway 112 beginning at 1 p.m.
The parade starts at Crescent School, 50350 state Highway 112.
Horses, antique cars, trucks and tractors, floats and other entries in the parade will make their way through the center of Joyce, celebrating the small community.
The parade route, on the highway between the Joyce Depot Museum and Wye Road, will be closed to traffic between 12:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m.
A detour will be available, beginning in the west at Crescent School and rejoining Highway 112 east of the Joyce Depot Museum.
Parade notables
John and Lelah Singhose are the parade’s grand marshals.
“They have been a part of Joyce Daze forever,” McKay said.
John Singhose, a Joyce-area native and longtime community leader, and his wife, Lelah, are active in Crescent Grange No. 1123, Joyce Daze Festival, Crescent School, Clallam County Fair and state Highway 112 cleanup efforts.
Their 1937 Chevy logging truck and 1937 McAlpin-Schreider log trailer are staples in truck shows and parades on the North Olympic Peninsula and elsewhere.
Gene and Janet Kreaman are the Joyce Pioneers for 2013.
Festival royal court members are Queen Lauren Hartley and Princesses Ryan Lester, Becca Bamer and Larissa Garrison.
Yelling contest
There will be no beard and mustache contest or family and children’s games at this year’s festival.
Instead, a yelling contest, to test the strongest lungs in the land, will be held at 2 p.m. at the Joyce Depot Museum stage.
Vendors will be available all day, beginning at 9 a.m. next to the Joyce General Store.
Music and dance acts will entertain at the Joyce Depot Museum stage beginning at 9 a.m.
The Joyce Fire Department and the Lower Elwha Klallam Police Department will offer equipment demonstrations, free blood-pressure checks and refreshments from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the mini-mall.
Joyce-area businesses will participate with extended hours and specials.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
