JOYCE — Go wild with blackberry pie, live music, a salmon bake and a Grand Parade at the 32nd annual Joyce Daze Wild Blackberry Festival on Saturday.
All are invited to celebrate summer’s naturally sweet treats, which grow bountifully in the Joyce area, with slices of fresh wild blackberry pie — and perhaps a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
A wet spring and a dry, hot summer have resulted in a great crop of wild blackberries, said Ed McKay, president of the Joyce Daze committee.
“There’s a lot of them, and they’re very sweet,” he said.
McKay doesn’t pick blackberries for pies; most are eaten before he can get them home, he admitted Tuesday.
Joyce-area volunteers were out picking thousands of wild blackberries Tuesday, preparing to bake hundreds of the pies for the festival, he said.
The festival opens at 7 a.m. with a pancake breakfast for early bird visitors at the Crescent Grange, 50870 state Highway 112.
Breakfast is $4 for adults or $2 for children 12 or younger.
Wild blackberry pie — with or without a topping of vanilla ice cream — is a mainstay of the community festival.
Pie contest
Judging for the homemade blackberry pie contest — sponsored by the Peninsula Daily News — will take place at 11 a.m.
Pies for the competition must be made with the small, local wild blackberries and can be dropped off for judges between 9 a.m. and 10:55 a.m.
More than 100 pies baked by volunteers will be served from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., or as long as supplies last, at 50883 state Highway 112, next door to the Joyce General Store in the community west of Port Angeles.
A single slice of wild blackberry pie is $4. A slice of pie a la mode (with ice cream) is $4.50, and an entire pie is $24.
Julie Hatch, volunteer in charge of the blackberry pies, said the blackberries used in the pies are not from typical roadside blackberry brambles.
‘Small and sweet’
“These are the small, sweet wild blackberries. If you find one thumbnail-sized, you get excited,” Hatch said.
Hatch noted that none of the blackberries used in the pies is purchased, only picked locally.
Volunteers are still needed to serve blackberry pie, she said.
Visitors can eat their dessert first or partake after the Clallam Bay Lions Club salmon bake, which is from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the mini-mall across Highway 112 from the Joyce General Store.
A plate of salmon, baked beans, salad with all the trimmings and a glass of lemonade is $12. A child portion plate, for those 12 and younger, is available for $7.
About 40 vendors were signed up by Wednesday, ready to set up in the parking area in the Joyce Center, to sell hand-made jewelry, art and other unique items.
“There is always something new in the way of vendors,” McKay said.
Hatch added that additional vendors have been calling to take the last few spots available, so there may be 50 or more vendors by Saturday.
There is no children’s game area this year, but a children’s fishing tank and cotton candy will be available.
Grand Parade
The Grand Parade will begin at 1 p.m. on Highway 112 and travel from Crescent School to Agate Beach Road.
As of Wednesday, the parade had 35 entries — including some large entries that take up a significant portion of the parade — and more are expected.
“You can come on the day of the parade and be part of it,” Hatch said.
“We just add late entries on at the end of the parade.”
The parade will feature Grand Pioneer Loretta Bilow and Grand Marshal Clayton Mork, Crescent School superintendent.
A stretch of state Highway 112 will be closed from 12:30 p.m. to 2:40 p.m. for the parade.
The closure will be from the highway’s intersection with Piedmont Road to east of downtown Joyce.
A detour route will be marked from Agate Beach Road to Crescent Beach Road to allow through traffic to bypass the parade.
There will be live musical entertainment both before and after the parade.
Jim Lind, Terry Roszatycki & Friends, No Batteries Required and Luck of the Draw with Dave Secord and company will provide live music all day at the stage at the Joyce Depot Museum.
Cheering contest
After the parade, at about 2 p.m., the crowd will be divided into teams, and a cheering contest will determine who can be the loudest at the Joyce Depot Museum stage.
When the cheering is over, the Dancing Grannies Belly Dancers will perform at 2:45 p.m.
Clallam County Fire District No. 4 and the Elwha Police Department will provide emergency equipment demonstrations, free blood pressure checks and refreshments at the mini-mall.
Past festival events such as a children’s game area, a beard and moustache contest and a loggers’ chain saw contest are not scheduled this year because volunteers who organized these events have retired or have had to scale back their time devoted to the festival, Hatch said.
New volunteers to organize and manage such contests and events are needed.
Anyone who wants to help organize such contests for the 2015 festival can phone Hatch at 360-477-3749 or McKay at 360-928-3331.
For more information, visit www.joycewa.com/joycedaze.htm or email joycedaze@joycewa.com.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
