About the food
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Due to the instability of the Dungeness crab market and the overall rising cost of goods everywhere, the price of a crab meal at the festival has increased.
If you purchase a whole or half-crab dinner online before midnight on Friday, October 11, 2024, your purchase is guaranteed. Note that curbside pickup (in the transit lanes) is available with all online orders, wrapped and ready to go.
Whole and half-crab dinners are available at the festival “as they last” so online orders are highly encouraged!
All whole or half-crab dinners include fresh Dungeness crab (warm or cold), farm-fresh corn on the cob, and coleslaw. One whole crab averages 2 lbs.
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Our Dungeness crab is caught just before the festival and kept in temperature-controlled tanks until they are brought to the festival for cooking.
Advance purchase tickets for Dungeness crab dinners go on sale Thursday, April 11, 2024. In order to guarantee a crab dinner in a volatile seafood market, all orders should be made in advance!
Crab dinner tickets will be honored during all hours of operation for the assigned day (Friday, Saturday, or Sunday) as purchased.
Crab meals are served between 11a.m.-9p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 11 a.m.-4:30 p.m. on Sunday.
Note: All crab dinner tickets list 11 a.m. as dining time, but your specific ticket is valid at any time the food tent is open on the date for which it was purchased. Your crab dinner is reserved and available!
*Please note that wait times between 12:30 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. are expected to be long due to ferry passengers arriving from Victoria. Consider an earlier or later time for your crab meal, and don’t worry – Your crab will be waiting for you!*
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Every October 1st, the commercial Dungeness crab season opens in our local waters – the Strait of Juan de Fuca, (the water separating the U.S. from Canada which includes Vancouver Island and Victoria, Canada directly north of Port Angeles), and Puget Sound. This is also called the Salish Sea. High Tide Seafoods, our crab sponsor and provider secure fresh crab directly from 5 local boats who select crabs averaging 2lbs just for us – typically over 9 tons of fresh crab! These crabs are held in large saltwater tanks, with the temperature and oxygen providing their ideal environment, just down the street from the Festival site. They are delivered daily, or more often as needed, throughout the weekend. They are cleaned and cooked on-site in big crab cookers. This is the freshest crab you can find! If you’ve never had truly fresh crab (not from the grocery store or even your favorite restaurant), then you’ve never really tasted fresh Dungeness crab!
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Yes! You can take cooked crab and other seafood into Canada.
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The Dungeness Crab Festival will be held October 11-13, 2024 and October 10-12, 2025.
Scheduled over the long weekend of Canadian Thanksgiving, The Dungeness Crab Festival dates allow our friends north of the border to travel to Port Angeles via Black Ball Ferry Line’s M/V Coho, bringing nearly 3,000 festival attendees from Canada each year.
About the festival
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CrabFest is scheduled for the weekend of Canadian Thanksgiving, which is the 2nd Monday of October. This allows our Canadian friends to come visit on the Ferry Coho and nearly 3,000 Canadians visit every year.
2024 Dates: October 11-13. 2025 Dates: October 10-12
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The Dungeness Crab Festival is located along the waterfront of Port Angeles, Washington, including City Pier and the parking lot of the Red Lion Hotel Port Angeles Harbor. The GPS address is 221 N Lincoln St., Port Angeles, WA 98362
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Park for free in downtown Port Angeles among more than 2,000 parking spaces, paid lots, and curbside. Please note some lots are pay-to-park.
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Parking lots in Port Angeles have limited accessible spaces. The festival will provide a “Disabled Drop-Off” location on Railroad Avenue. Please note this is not a parking area; drivers must drop people off and then find a parking space.
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The festival vendor booths fill up fast and space is limited. Applications are available now with an application deadline of early May.
*After the deadline has passed, please email your contact information to operations@crabfestival.org to check on the status and be added to the waiting list. Please note that last-minute spaces are rarely available.
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YES! An event of this magnitude takes a great deal of community support, and this includes our volunteer ‘Crab Crew’! Positions are available for any ability or area of expertise, so register online today! All volunteers receive a volunteer shirt, and those who work two or more shifts over the festival weekend receive a free half-crab dinner!
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The Feiro Marine Life Center, located on City Pier (small admission charge), allows visitors to explore our marine environment with hands-on exhibits and activities. For more marine education and fun for families, visit the Olympic Discovery Center, next door at The Wharf, second floor. On the main floor of the Wharf is a great Arcade.
The Festival Fun Zone is new in 2023. Several local nonprofits will have activities located near the food on the pier.
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Who designed the CrabFest artwork?
The Red Salish Crab was designed by local Native American Artist John Goodwin, also known as Nytom. The copper ‘Welcome Crab” was created by Clark Mundy, and the Crab Festival logo is by Cory Ench . “Louie” the colorful crab featured on the 2018 festival program, posters, and merchandise, was created by artist Don Dye of Wildlife Images. Artists Sarah Tucker and Jennifer Bright created the sea debris sculptures hanging in the Crab Central Pavilion.
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The Dungeness Crab & Seafood Festival makes donations each year to a variety of community organizations. Our donation programs include nonprofit groups who volunteer for the Festival, gift baskets to support local fundraising events, and direct cash donations.
Some of the groups we have supported include: Feiro Marine Life Center, North Olympic Land Trust, Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, Peninsula College Men’s and Women’s Basketball, Peninsula College Soccer, Sequim Irrigation Festival, North Olympic Skills Center, Puget Sound Anglers, Hurricane Ridge Winter Sports Club, Washington Hospitality Association, First Step Family Support Center, Leo Bourget/Don DeFrang Memorial Golf Tournament benefiting the Port Angeles Food Bank, Captain Joseph House Foundation, Sequim Lions Club, Port Angeles Food Bank, Center Valley Animal Rescue, and the Port Angeles Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (NJROTC).
If you are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and would like to request a donation of a souvenir gift basket, including Crab Dinner Tickets, for your special event fundraiser, please e-mail us at Operations@crabfestival.org and provide a brief description of your organization and your event as well as your contact information. Please allow at least 3 weeks advance notice.
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The Dungeness Crab Festival appreciates street performers, but due to the limited size of the event site, the festival reserves the right to regulate and position street performers so that they do not interfere with event programs or lines. Those interested in performing/busking should inquire at the festival information booth for updates based on crowd and location.
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The Dungeness Crab Festival offers limited booth space for nonprofit organizations by application only, and preference is given to those groups or organizations with an environmental, maritime, or conservation theme. Once the festival has begun, no organization may set up on festival grounds without prior authorization from event producers.
Other individuals may distribute information or campaign materials and solicit signatures, but not to captive audiences (like the crab feed line), inside any tent or other buildings related to The Dungeness Crab Festival.
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If The Dungeness Crab Festival is canceled for any reason, all pre-ordered crab meals and ticket holders will receive a full refund, minus applicable credit card and ticket processing fees.
If you have a change in travel plans and need to adjust the date of your crab meal ticket, OR are not able to attend the festival at all, please contact the CrabFest office and our staff will do their best to assist you. Depending upon the circumstances, a refund may be available up to 14 days in advance of the festival.
The commercial Dungeness crab season opens each year on October 1 in the pristine waters of the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Puget Sound, known as the Salish Sea to the many tribal groups who have relied upon this area’s aquatic resources for thousands of years.
We are grateful for the partnership with local fishing fleets and their vessels that source the freshest local crab directly from the Salish Sea and deliver it to the festival throughout the weekend. Cleaned and cooked on site at the festival, you won’t get any fresher crab than this!
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Over The Dungeness Crab Festival weekend, the usual Saturday farmers market moves a few blocks south to the Vern Burton Community Center parking lot at Fourth and Peabody Streets. Visit the market between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. for a wonderful selection of locally-grown food and artisan crafts.
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The Dungeness Crab Festival
PO Box 2406,
Port Angeles, WA 98362
122 N Lincoln St (Weekend Event Address for GPS)
Port Angeles, WA 98362
General questions
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The Dungeness Crab Festival honors active-duty members and families of the armed forces with a $5 discount on crab dinner prices all weekend, and 10% off all merchandise at the CrabFest information booths. Please show current military ID to receive your discounts.
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The closest ATM is at The Wharf (just north of the big tent). There are also ATMs at First Federal (First & Laurel Streets) and Safeway (south on Lincoln Street) and other nearby banks. Most vendors, but not all, accept credit and debit cards.
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Unfortunately, we do not accept Canadian currency. Individual outside vendors may do so, at their discretion.
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We highly recommend you leave your dog at home due to the large crowds, but if you must, know that they are not allowed in the Crab Central Pavillion (main tent area designated as a restaurant). Service animals are exempt. Please keep your dog on a leash at all times and clean up after it.
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Restrooms are located in the Gateway Pavilion and on City Pier on the west side of the triangular building. Additionally, there are portable toilets outside the main tent on the water side areas of City Pier.
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Lost property is taken to the information/merchandise booth located in front of the Crab Central Tent. After the festival, please call 360-452-6300 or email operations@crabfestival.org regarding your lost item.
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The Dungeness Crab Festival is held in a public space, and as such, distribution of information or campaign materials and solicitation of signatures for petition drives is permitted as long as contact is not made with captive audiences, like people in line for an event or inside any tent or other buildings. We reserve the right to move and position political campaign activities for crowd control purposes.
For any other questions, please contact us via email (info@crabfestival.org).
The Dungeness Crab Festival
PO Box 2406, Port Angeles, WA 98362
122 N Lincoln St (Weekend Event Address for GPS)
Port Angeles, WA 98362
info@crabfestival.org
www.crabfestival.org
