Westport’s 24th Annual World-Class Crab Races & Crab Feed - Saturday, April 16, 2011

It's the 2nd weekend of April and in Westport, that means CRAB RACES!! It brings back memories of my previous life, as a big city dweller, a group of coworkers and I used to go to a place called Brennan's Pub, in Marina del Rey. Every Thursday night Brennan's ran Turtle Races, which was a crazy event where for $1 you could choose a "racing turtle" as your own. Each participant would place their racer down in the center of a circle (on the Brennan's outside patio) and then everyone would yell at their chosen turtle until one of them reached the outside circumfrence, thus being declared the winner. Prizes were awarded out of a giant trash bag, and were not anything you could discuss in polite company. It was crazy, and the liberal vegan that I was at the time found it really wrong. But the beer was cheap, it was walking distance from my office, so I witnessed a lot more Turtle Races than I care to admit.

The point is that this weekend is Westport's version of that event. At the Crab Pavilion, a giant tent set up in the Marina district for this event, anyone can register and borrow a racer crab for $3. When your heat is called, racing human places racer crab on a slanted table and the racing human pounds on the table and yells at his crab and the first crab to slide to the bottom of the table is declared the winner! Again, lots of fun for those who are into it, mixed with possible feelings of conflicted guilt if you're an animal lover, with any misgivings removed by the time you take your first bite of the fresh Dungeness Crab from the Crab Feed.

If this sounds at all intriguing to you, below is the Westport Chamber's description of the event with all the details. Rain or shine, hit the coast for the 24th Annual Westport Crab Races and Crab Feed on Saturday, April 16, 2011.

Festivities are centered at the Crab Pavilion, with admission just $2 per person for live music by Catch of the Day, and the main attraction - "World Class Crab Races!" Then dig into the tastiest, freshest local Dungeness Crab dinner you'll ever have, with all the trimmings (just $10 for half or $15 for a whole portion).

Enter the Crab Pavilion for the event - Westport's World Class Crab Races run from 1pm to 5pm - sign up starts at 11am. Select a racer from one of our field of draft picks ($3 registration gets you a crab that's been training since their last molt), or you can bring your own fresh racing crab if you prefer. Racing registation begins at 11am and the heats start at 1pm. Lots of prices donated by local merchants are up for grabs in this annual fun event.

The crab feed will go from 11am to 5pm. The dinner ($10 for half a crab/$15 for a whole crab) includes assorted salads, baked beans, and garlic bread, plus coffee or a soft drink. Hot dogs and other beverages, including beer & wine will also be available for sale. If you prefer to catch your own, take part in sport crabbing right off the docks or the fisherman's boardwalk any time during the season. Westport is home to the most delicious Dungeness Crab you'll find anywhere in the world.

5th Annual Tokeland/Northcove Studio Tour

Artists from the Tokeland area are proud to present their fifth annual art studio tour on Saturday, April 16 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. This free annual event showcases the diverse talents of 15 artists, working in a variety of media including: painting, photography, ceramics, metalsmithing and furniture.

Judith Altruda’s jewelry studio will showcase her recent work with anticlastic forming, a technique originating in the Bronze Age for shaping metal. She will have hammered cuff bracelets in copper and bronze, etched silver and gold rings set with sea glass, ancient Greek coins and gemstones.

The Mann Studio, headquarters of Wally and Marlene Mann, will show recent works in acrylic and oil painting and pastels.

Knock on Wood, the workshop of Jeffro Uitto, will have driftwood furniture, including benches and chairs.

Sharing the space with Uitto will be Shoalwater Bay tribal artist Earl Davis, who will show carvings and native masks.

Merrill Photography, studio of photographer Marcy Merrill, will be demonstrating colloidal wet plate photography, an early photographic process dating from the 1850s. The effect is that of an old fashioned “tin type.” Marcy will have a photo booth set up in her studio to take pictures of visitors.

At the Tokeland Hotel, artists Brad Saunders and Emily Maldonado will have lamp work beads and native cedar flutes.

Kennedy Creek Pottery focuses on sculptural ceramics with functional and decorative work, and Kimmi Kerns will have graphic designed tile work.

Bev King Lufkin, plein air painter, will present a new series of hand colored pen and ink sketches of the South Beach and watercolors. Janet Karlsson and Barbara Sampson will have watercolor paintings, with Sampson demonstrating watercolor techniques throughout the day.

Free maps showing the studio locations can be picked up at the Tokeland Hotel, the Westport Chamber of Commerce and local businesses in the South Beach area.

Grayland Beach Shipwreck Find

One neat area out here that we rarely get to explore is Washaway Beach. This is the beach area between North Cove and Tokeland that is known for recent rapid erosion that has in the past 5 or 10 years has caused huge parts of a neighborhood to fall into the ocean. The beach is kind of neat to walk (and sad, also because so many lost property there), because you can see old foundations and septic tanks and water pipes the have been abandoned where homes have washed away.

A coastal storm over New Years caused a little more erosion and also uncovered a bit of a treasure that has caused some excitement on the South Beach. An old shipwreck, about 100' long was found peeking through the sand. According to the Daily World, "they" believe the ship is the "Canadian Exporter", a freighter that went down in 1921 at the mouth of Willapa Harbor.

According to Rex Martin, the Executive Director of the Maritime Museum, its a pretty complicated process to determine who owns the salvage rights to the wreckage, and it would be a bit of a job to uncover the whole thing. So it sounds like it might just end up laying there until it breaks up into flotsam. But in the meantime, its a sight to behold.

We went down there this afternoon to check it out, and there were more people on the beach than I've ever seen down there, actually more than I've ever seen on a South Beach outside of a warm clam dig. The shipwreck itself is pretty cool. Definitely worth a look. To get there, drive south on the beach to just south of Warrenton Cannery Road, or drive South on highway 105 from Westport, and park on Warrenton Cannery Road and it's just south of the entrance.

Safety first! The county has posted "no trespassing" signs and built a sand barricade where the road has washed away, due to the danger involved in walking down there. Be mindful of the tides, and don't get caught out there in a storm.

Tokeland Golf Links

The Tokeland Golf Links is another one of those Washington Coast treasures that you stumble along and then scratch your head wondering why you never heard of it. Adjacent the Tokeland Hotel, this 18 (or so) hole golf course is truly unique. Guarded only by an "honor box" requesting $10 for your play, the entire golf course is actually situated on tidal lands. During winter high tides, most of this golf course is underwater.

A true "sustainable" golf course, no pesticides or fertilizers are used. Newcastle it aint, but for $10, it can't be beat. The vistas out over the bay where the WIllapa River meets the Pacific Ocean are breathtaking - whether rain or shine.

This is particularly great for a walking outing where dad can bring his clubs and mom can follow along with the baby stroller, as well as for beginners who can't see dumping $50 and up on green fees just to stub every other ball.

Feel free to picnic after your round in the parking lot, or have lunch in the dining room of the Tokeland Hotel.

This Weekend at the Beach: Tokeland Woodfest, Run for the Light

TGIF! It's Friday, its August, and we have a fun filled weekend coming up here. Our plans for this weekend include:

The Tokeland Woodfest. This annual event held at the Historic Tokeland Hotel is a mecca for wood artisans all over the Pacific Northwest. They will be hosting chainsaw carving competitions, art displays, and of course, art for sale in various wood mediums. We will be checking this out Saturday and Sunday.

Washington Lightkeepers Assocition Run for the Light. This is a 5 mile run, starting at the Maritime Museum, running through town, past the Lighthouse, and back along the beach. Baby and I will be walking this Saturday morning. Onsite registration starts at 8:30 at McCausland Hall at the Maritime Museum.

And if we have time, we are going to make our first ever trip to Brady's World Famous Oyster Feed, in Ocosta.... I usually only eat oysters on the half shell, but there is something appealing about seeing the oysters, bubba gump style, prepared 101 ways by the folks that grew them.

Have a great weekend!