Crabs! Wine! Cheese!

The 2011 Crab, Wine & Cheese Festival is this weekend and it will be a six-hour celebration of some of our local foods. From 3 to 9 pm at the Cultural Center on Front Street, the Festival will have something for everyone. Live music will keep the atmosphere festive, many crabs will be consumed, and a few lucky crabs will have the opportunity to race back to their ocean home in the World Famous Crab Races.

This local festival celebrates some of our most-famous food offerings and gives local residents and tourists alike a chance to kick back and enjoy good food. The event itself is free and all proceeds from food and wine sales goes to the Northcoast Marine Mammal Center.

This year will be very different from years past. More food offerings will be on hand, ranging from blue cheese mashed potatoes from Bistro Gardens to chowder from the Chart Room. Albers will be providing the ocean's bounty -- half-crabs will be available for $7. The many side offerings can be mixed and matched for $3 each. Rumiano will be providing samples of many of their local cheeses -- don't miss out on their award-winners! Wine-lovers will have a hard time choosing their $15 bottle -- there are 30 wine sponsors providing the choices.

One major difference between last year's event and 2011's is how the World Famous Crab Race will be run. It is a Race to Freedom this year, with the crabs scurrying across South Beach toward the water. The Fun Bus will take visitors from the Cultural Center to South Beach at 5pm for the start of the race.

As always, kids' activities will keep the small ones busy. Radio-controlled "crabs", face painting, coloring, and more will be on hand. Last year, the three-year-old set took over the dance floor for a while and I'm sure that will happen this year as well.

I might be most looking forward to a demonstration of "crab shaking" by the Chefs Morgante of Vita Cucina. This is a new-to-me technique, but I like the concept, as explained here. I didn't find out what time that is happening, but for this and other questions you might have, you can call Shannon at 541-254-0328. She is your source for all things Crab, Wine & Cheese Festival this year.