Community: 15th annual ‘Crabfest’ on tap in PA

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, October 5, 2016

SIDEBAR

The Dungeness Crab & Seafood Festival’s 4th annual Chowder Cook-Off will benefit the Captain Joseph House Foundation and is open to professional and amateur cooks. Master chef Graham Kerr will preside over as the celebrity judge and the public is invited to cast its votes for the People’s Choice Award. The competition will be from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 9, at the Gateway Transit Center.

Fees for professional cooks are $45 for the first entry and $22.50 for each additional entry. Amateur cooks pay $20 for the first entry and $10 for each additional entry. The chowder recipe may be seafood, a combination of seafood and other ingredients, or vegetarian. Application materials and information can be found at www.captainjosephhousefoundation.org or www.crabfestival.org. Alternately, call Tawana Borden at 683-3408 or Sam Coyle at 460-4079.

The Dungeness Crab & Seafood Festival is produced by Olympic Peninsula Celebrations, a Washington nonprofit corporation, and the Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce. For more information about the festival, visit www.crabfestival.org, e-mail info@crabfestival.org or call 452-6300.

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The 15th annual Dungeness Crab & Seafood Festival will be Friday-Sunday, Oct. 7-9, at the Port Angeles City Pier. Hours are Friday, noon-10 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m.-10 p.m.; and Sunday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m . The pier booths close at 6pm Friday and Saturday. Admission is free.

Thousands of pounds of Dungeness crab are pulled from local waters each year, enabling festival-goers to savor the freshest crab available while also enjoying a wide variety of locally grown and produced foods. The 9,000-square-foot Kitsap Bank Crab Central Tent will house an old-fashioned crab-feed complete with large whole crabs, fresh corn and coleslaw. At Crab Central and throughout the grounds, 14 local and regional restaurants will serve-up everything from crab cakes to gumbo and much more. Taylor Shellfish Farms will have a raw oyster bar, too. Non-seafood and vegetarian dishes also will be available.

There’s live music throughout the event; a Chef Demonstration Stage featuring ongoing cooking demonstrations by a line-up of local and regional chefs; a Sunday morning non-denominational “Crab Revival” with gospel music performed by local artists; the Grab-A-Crab Tank Derby; and more than 85 vendor booths with juried crafts, specialty foods, and information provided by environmental organizations.

The festival welcomes Graham Kerr, the master chef known to millions around the world as the Galloping Gourmet. Kerr will appear at the Chowder Cook-Off in the Transit Lanes next to the Gateway Pavilion on Sunday, where he will speak, sign copies of his books and preside as judge of the annual Chowder Cook-Off.

There would be no Crabfest without the support of the festival’s more than 40 sponsors. Special thanks to go to Presenting Sponsors: Black Ball Ferry Line, Kitsap Bank, Red Lion Hotel Port Angeles, Peninsula Daily News and the Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce.

For details visit www.crabfestival.org, e-mail info@crabfestival.org, or call 452-6300.