PORT ANGELES — There’s going to be a Canadian invasion at the 18th Dungeness Crab and Seafood Festival, eh?
The MV Coho ferry will pack thousands of revelers on its 10:30 a.m. sailings from Victoria today, Saturday and Sunday, bringing an international flair to the annual event centered around the Port Angeles Red Lion Hotel and City Pier.
“They basically bring 3,000 people to the festival, and that has made a tremendous difference,” CrabFest Executive Director Scott Nagel said.
“Also, Canadians are so nice. They’re wonderful to party with.”
Passengers wait on the deck of the ferry MV Coho as it arrives in Port Angeles from Victoria in 2014. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
The CrabFest celebrates not only food but also the aquaculture, agriculture and maritime traditions of the Olympic Peninsula, as well as Native American culture, art, music and children’s activities.
The 10:30 a.m. Saturday sailing of the MV Coho from downtown Victoria was sold out as of Wednesday morning, Black Ball Ferry Line Vice President of Marketing Ryan Malane said.
Reservations for the morning sailings today — when dinners have a reduced price of $26, a $4 discount, from noon to 10 p.m. for the Peninsula Daily News Community Crab Dinner — and Sunday were about 90 percent full as of Thursday, Malane said.
Black Ball offers $59 to $65 day-trip packages for its Canadian customers that include round-trip, walk-on ferry fare and one ticket for the crab feed dinner in the main festival tent with Dungeness crab, corn and coleslaw.
“We do all sorts of promotions over in Victoria to support it,” Malane said of the CrabFest. “We have a campaign that we do on Facebook every year with a theme.”
This year’s theme was “Agents of C.L.A.W.” Those who found two stuffed crab toys that were hidden around Victoria won a pair of tickets to CrabFest.
Nagel said the Black Ball promotions and advertising in the Victoria market have made a “tremendous difference” for the event, which draws an estimated 18,000 to 20,000 over three days.
“It’s always a big party over in Port Angeles,” Malane said.
The Coho’s morning sailings from Victoria arrive in Port Angeles at about noon. The iconic ferry can fit about 1,000 walk-on passengers, many of whom will make a beeline from the terminal at the foot of Laurel Street to the 12,000-square-foot tent at the Red Lion parking lot or descend on the food booths at City Pier.
“A lot of people who come to the tent, don’t actually realize there’s a whole festival out on the pier,” Nagel said.
Nagel said there will be 19 food booths at this year’s festival, up three from last year.
Organizers secured more cooking equipment to increase the crab-cooking capacity.
“We’ll be turning around the crabs to-go very rapidly,” Nagel said.
Nagel encouraged locals to avoid the main lunch rushes for crab dinners in the festival tent.
“Sunday is a really great day because we also have the chowder cook-off, and we always have the Crab Revival in the morning,” Nagel said
“And the tourists start to leave on Sunday. We still have plenty of crab and everything else, so that’s a great time to come down.”
The non-denominational “Crab Revival” begins at 9:30 a.m. Sunday at the Gateway Pavilion.
The Captain Joseph House Foundation Chowder Cook-Off begins at 10 a.m. Sunday in the Clallam Transit lanes just west of the pavilion.
For advance crab dinner tickets and a complete schedule of events, go to landing.crabfestival.org.
The Peninsula Daily News’ Dungeness Crab & Seafood Festival special section is online at tinyurl.com/PDN-CrabFest2019.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
Crab cleaner Luke Weaver of Port Angeles tosses a gutted crab into an ice-filled container on Thursday in preparation for today’s opening of the Dungeness Crab and Seafood Festival in Port Angeles. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
