Dale Lane of Port Angeles relishes his plateful of shrimp, coleslaw and garlic toast. Photo by Allison Arthur
ShrimpFest organizer Karen Sickel literally sold the pearl-shrimp necklace off her neck Saturday. The popular plastic necklaces and the oh-so-very-popular raw shrimp were flying out of the Brinnon ShrimpFest.
"It was like nothing we've ever seen," said Sickel on Monday, admitting she was tired but happy it was a busy, sold-out weekend. "We're all just delighted."
Even before ShrimpFest opened on Saturday, there were 47 people lined up to buy some of the tasty local morsels, she said. Presumably they all had coolers.
"I had to do crowd control," Sickel said.
Sickel and her husband, George, estimated 1,000 pounds of shrimp were sold on Saturday and another 350 pounds on Sunday.
And that didn't include the cooked shrimp, sold by the Big Quil 4-H Club, which came with coleslaw and bread and was served with a smile by club members.
Leaders Joe and Joy Baisch were busy keeping the shrimp supply going. Cookers yelled "hot pan!" as they made their way to where Marissa Suarez and others put the finishing savory touches on the mounds of a dozen cooked shrimp per plate.
Organizers estimated as many as 10,000 people came to the event on Saturday, when some got sunburned after only a few hours milling around the more than 90 booths. On Sunday, Sickel said perhaps half as many showed up because of rain.
There was one glitch Saturday, when power was briefly unavailable to rev up the belt sander races. Once power was restored, the popular races resumed in their usual style and speed, roaring down the track.
ShrimpFest is sponsored by Emerald Towns Alliance, a nonprofit organization that donates all proceeds back to the communities of Brinnon and Quilcene.
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