LAKESIDE — You heard it here first. The Lakeside Crawdad Festival is the Oregon Coast’s new summer soiree.
“This is gonna be the big event,” said Cindy Braack, a wine vendor with Sienna Ridge Estate, who came down from Rice Hill to set up a booth. “It’s going to be bigger than the Newport seafood festival.”
In just its second year, Lakeside Mayor Rod Shilling couldn’t believe what a success the three-day festival turned out to be. He didn’t anticipate it, either. By 3 p.m. Saturday, organizers had run out of the bottom feeders. That’s 1,200 pounds of Louisiana crawdads sold in less than a day.
“It was hard to judge because it’s only our second year,” Shilling said. “That was a big sign how many more people showed up.”
The crawdads weren’t the only hit. All sorts of vendors selling funnel cakes, hot dogs and seafood were running out of food and scrambling to restock. Six wineries also set up tasting booths in the beer garden.
“The best part is the food,” said 53-year-old Gail Koenen of North Bend, adding that Fat Tuesday’s ribs were the best she’d ever tasted.
Shilling estimated that 10,000 people attended the festival Friday through Sunday. That’s not as big as the Newport Seafood and Wine Festival, which boasts 17,000 people at its annual February event. But Lakeside is moving up rapidly.
First-year attendance in 2009 was in the hundreds. This year, about 5,000 tickets were sold at the gate, but children got in free, and no one was charged on Sunday.
In all that crowd, there was only one queen of the crawdads. That was Veronica Yancey of Roseburg.
Friday night Yancey, who would only describe herself as 60-plus years old, took a seat for the crawdad-eating competition beside Shilling, Fire Chief Ted Ross, defending champion Deputy Scott Moore, and 12 other men and boys.
Each contestant was served a steaming, habanero-boiled, pound-and-a half basket of crawdads. First one to the bottom would win.
In less than three minutes, Yancey leapt from her seat, face and hands covered in mud bug juice. Alan Guess of Veneta, who came into town just for the festival, slurped down his last tail at the same moment. Yancey and Guess tied for the championship.
“Any chance to suck off a head,” said Yancey, sifting through the pile of shells for any leftover meat. “These are so good. I can’t stop.”
It wasn’t just about food, though. Bands played past dark, while kids rode carnival rides and local nonprofits promoted their causes. The Lakeside Fire Department set up a barbecued oyster stand, which made $1,500 in profit toward uniforms and other necessities.
Shilling also said several of the local recreational vehicle parks sold out, with out-of-towners traveling to Lakeside for the festival.
“It was just a good party,” Shilling said. “A great time.”
Reporter Meghan Walsh can be reached at 541-269-1222, ext. 235; or at mwalsh@theworldlink.com.
