It’s here. The spring festival that everyone is always waiting for. It’s time to get out and start celebrating the official arrival of festival season across the Beaufort area. Port Royal goes nuts over soft shell crabs and the 14th Annual Soft Shell Crab Festival will be full of them (yes, crabs and nuts). The opportunity for soft shell crab is quick. It only comes once a year and Saturday offers a day of fun and a fantastic opportunity to savor one of our Lowcountry delicacies.
And, boy…do they come.
If you’ll be one of the usual crowd of nearly 10,000, expect a day full of fun.
With a sunny day in the forecast, Paris Avenue in Port Royal will be bustling on Saturday afternoon in a free day full of lots of live music, activities, good food and plenty of community camaraderie. Local restaurants will serve up varieties of soft shell crab in clever variations. If crab isn’t your thing, barbeque, burgers, ice cream, other seafood and more also will be available; not to mention a variety of treats as well!
Parking is available along most of the side streets and in several designated lots. (organizers ask that you please leave Fido at home, for a just a few hours)
The event features a full day of live music performed by: Souls Harbor, Sole Mate and Bounty Hunter.
Food vendors, artists and crafters will be lined up on Paris Avenue. In addition to live music, there will two Kids’ Zones and lots of childrens’ activities and entertainment for fun-seekers of all ages. Once again, a classic car show will feature dozens of old-school vehicles and the Larew Dance Center is coming by to show off some of their moves.
The festival will also feature the annual crab race where approximately 5,000 rubber crabs are “adopted” by festival attendees for $10 each. The crabs will be dropped into Battery Creek at 5:00 pm and up for grabs is an available top prize of $40,000 to one possible winner and a bunch of chances to win $5,000.
Visit the Old Village Association of Port Royal online for more information.
