Crab festival launches Kodiak into summer: annual event celebrates season, island's heritage.

• Author: Pounds, Nancy
• Position: Alaska: This Month

Kodiak kicks off the summer season each year with its long-time community party called the Kodiak Crab Festival. Island residents, other Alaskans and even out-of-state visitors attend activities, which include a parade, seafood cook-off, carnival rides and games, the blessing of the fishing fleet and various contests from arm-wrestling to frog-jumping.

"There's a little bit of something for everyone," said Pam Foreman, Crab Festival manager and Kodiak Chamber of Commerce community relations manager.

The frogs are also out-of-town visitors, she noted.

This year's Crab Festival runs from May 21 to May 25. On the first day of the festival, business people typically grab lunch from one of the diverse food booths, Foreman said. Choices include king crab legs cooked onsite and served on plates, the famous Bruin Burger, ground beef and melted cheese inside a bread shell, and cultural offerings such as food from Korea, El Salvador, the Philippines and Mexico.

A HISTORY OF CRAB AND CELEBRATIONS

The Crab Fest marks its 51st anniversary this year, and the theme recognizes 2009 as Alaska's 50th anniversary of statehood. The festival slogan is "Crab Fest: A

State of Mind" and it emblazons logos and posters. The parade will honor 50 years of statehood in the Last Frontier.

"It's our way of giving a nod to the state for its 50th anniversary," Foreman said.

The festival began in celebration of a new fishing venture and to rejoice in the arrival of summer.

"Back then, crab was king, and Kodiak was entering into the crab fishery," Foreman said. "It also was a way for the community to celebrate summer. It's been a big part of our community for all of those 51 years."

Foreman has lived in Kodiak for 20 years and has attended Crab Fest every year since her arrival. She has worked as a festival volunteer for several years. This year is her second year as the Crab Festival manager.

The Kodiak crab fleet is still active, although king crab is harvested in the Bering Sea rather than near the island, she said. Other types of crab are still caught around Kodiak.

Events have been added or dropped throughout the festival's history. A crab race has been discontinued, she said.

One event, started in the early 1970s, has become quite competitive, Foreman said. Survival suits were still new, and fishermen's wives crafted a contest so their men could practice with the "Gumby suits." Today, competitors run down a ramp, put on the awkward orange suits, swim across the harbor...