Baltimore Seafood Festival spotlights local cuisine

On Saturday, hungry Baltimoreans congregated at the Canton Waterfront Park for the first-ever Baltimore Seafood Festival.

The festival is the brainchild of Elizabeth Lambert, a Baltimore resident with a deep background in event planning and the service industry.

“Coming from Boston, I was very proud of the city I lived in. But I was just blown away by the passion of Baltimore,” Lambert said.

Lambert wanted to give something back to her adopted city. She combined her professional background with Baltimore’s love of seafood to develop a festival celebrating Charm City’s best known cuisine. Lambert also wanted to encourage Baltimore residents to take pride in their city.

“I purposefully had the city’s teachers man our bars here. We want people to walk away feeling proud of our teachers and their city. Hopefully, that will make them more likely to stay here,” Lambert said.

The festival was not organized by the municipal government of Baltimore City but was completely put together by Lambert, who called local businesses and presented them with the opportunity to operate at the festival.

“We were contacted about attending four months ago,” Emily Gamrod, an employee of The Crab Depot, an eatery located in the suburb of Brooklyn Park, said. “We absolutely plan on coming back next year.”

According to Gamrod, The Crab Depot brought 100 bushels of crabs to the event; this amounted to about 15,000 crabs.

Attendants bought food and drinks using tickets, which were each worth $1. Speaking at the end of the six-hour festival, Gamrod estimated that The Crab Depot took in 5,000 to 6,000 tickets.

Festival-goers had a range of ticket options for entry. The basic ticket was $29 and came with 10 food tickets, two drink coupons and a glass. A $59 option included a half dozen crabs, and a $75 option included a private bar, unlimited drinks and 15 tickets. The ultimate seafood lover’s option consisted of a $750 private crab table intended for a party of 10 with a bushel of crabs, unlimited drinks and 100 tickets.

“It’s been great,” Jim Kirlin, who purchased the $750 package, said. “The crabs are small, but tasty. We’re having a good time.”

Greg Price, who was sitting at Kirlin’s table, explained that Kirlin, whom he had just met, had invited him to eat there.

“I saw these folks sitting over there and thought I would share the food,” Kirlin said, waving toward a table covered in crab shells.

The festival featured a large food tent in which 22 vendors were located. The items offered included the popular Crab Macaroni and Cheese Dog from Stuggy’s, which is located in Fell’s Point, as well as the Lobster Lasagna from Café Gia in Little Italy. A large eating tent was located adjacent to the food tent, as well as a cooking demonstration zone.

An arts and crafts section of the festival had tents for T-shirt making and face painting. At the far end of the festival, an open area was surrounded by a stage hosting a cover band, along with various vendors.

“We heard about this through our friends,” Kelsey McCoskey, an attendee of the event, said. “The kids have been doing all sorts of activities. We had some fish tacos and pizza. And it’s pet friendly, which is great.”

Ariana Campos, a 10-year-old who attended the Seafood Festival, agreed.

“It’s fun,” Campos said. “We played tug-of-war and cornhole. I like some seafood, like fish, crabs and shrimp, but all I had today was the ice cream.”

The venue was the Canton Waterfront Park, rented from the Downtown Baltimore Family Alliance. Picnickers ate on the grass, enjoying the music and watching the harbor, where the USNS Choctaw County was still in dock after arriving for Baltimore Navy Week. Attendants could also see the Maryland Korean War Memorial, a stone monument with a map of Korea on the ground and a history of the conflict and list of Maryland’s fallen soldiers on the sides.

Lambert took the stage near the end of the festival, where she announced her hope that this weekend’s event would be the first of many Baltimore Seafood Festivals. She also thanked the sponsors of the event, which included Smirnoff, National Bohemian, Baltimore Fishbowl, Zipcar and Order Up, an online food delivery service.

“The atmosphere was so friendly,” junior Nathan Choe said. “The weather was perfect, kids were playing games [and] adults were drunkenly dancing. The $29 ticket was pricey for what you get, but I’m glad I came. The crab I had with Old Bay was my favorite food, but the Crab Macaroni and Cheese Dog was the most original. I also had some oysters and corn on the cob.”

The Festival did have its share of problems. One of the beer trucks was not refrigerated, and one of the ticket printers was not working. Yet attendees were willing to overlook these hitches in their evaluation of the event.

“It’s been a little disorganized, but this is the first seafood festival of the season,” Jim Kirlin said. “It will get better.”

Given the attendees’ glowing responses and the productive business that the vendors received, the Baltimore Seafood Festival might get the opportunity to reoccur and improve next year.