PORT ANGELES — Michelle McBride thought she won a cheesy ceramic crab. Instead, the hospital laboratory technician got a dozen roses and a fiance.
Before a crowd of hundreds Saturday afternoon at the fifth annual Dungeness Crab and Seafood Festival, McBride, 39, officially became the fiancee of Kendal Becker, 40, when he popped the question.
“It turned out well. She said yes,” said Becker, a mortgage broker.
Both he and McBride live in Richland.
“She had no idea.”
It started with a prize drawing.
Victoria McDonald, crab derby director and “Crab Queen,” planted a ticket with McBride’s name to get her on stage to ostensibly award her a ceramic crab.
McBride said she was hesitating about whether to go on stage, but as part of a personal effort to try new things, she did.
“I wasn’t going to,” she said.
Instead, the prize was Becker.
He got down on one knee for the proposal and the crowd cheered and began chanting “Yes!”
McBride didn’t take very long to consider the offer.
“Definitely,” she said when asked if she accepted.
As the happy couple kissed, a voice called out: “Get a room!”
Susan Ombrellaro of Seattle, Becker’s sister, said her brother is a romantic at heart.
“He keeps it well hidden,” she said.
McDonald said Becker contacted the festival office about a week ago.
Becker said the couple and friends and family planned to attend the crab festival, and he decided it was time.
“The timing sounded right,” he said.
Port Angeles may not have been known as a romantic destination.
“It is now,” McDonald said.
