HAMPTON — Celebrate Hampton’s local seafood industry at the Crabtown Seafood Festival this Saturday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Festivities will run from Mill Point Park (along the waterfront) to Carousel Park.
While enjoying seafood and family entertainment is a draw to the festival, emphasis will also be placed on discovering where seafood comes from, how it’s harvested, safe preparation, and how to best manage the environment in which it thrives.
Festival-goers will shop among nautical artists and vendors selling original oils, prints, ink, watercolor, jewelry, soaps, glass, sculpture, ceramics, driftwood, seaglass, seashell, and metalwork, as well as see historical displays (watercraft, working instruments), and take part in make-and-take art projects.
Families will enjoy nautical-themed games with prizes and free children’s activity stations spread throughout the festival area.
Live bands will be featured at the Mill Point Park stage throughout the day, ranging from Jazz, Smooth R&B, Top 40, Soul, Americana and more.
Attendees can try their hand at fishing with a catch-and-release activity hosted by Bass Pro Shop. A taste of commercial life on the water, including the buying, transport, and selling of oysters from tongs to shucking, can be experienced by boarding one of several vessels brought to the event by the Chesapeake Bay Buyboat Association.
The Hampton History Museum will present the story of how Hampton came to be known as “Crabtown,” and how a thriving seafood industry evolved from the ashes of the Civil War.
The innovative entrepreneurs, industrious boatmen, oystermen, fishermen, and the women who picked the crabmeat for canning and export around the world will be represented.
Models will illustrate the development of the various craft that continue to ply the waters off Hampton.
The complete schedule is posted here.
This new event is presented by the City of Hampton and Hampton Parks, Recreation & Leisure Services, 757-727-8311.
Admission and all activities are free.
