The Port Angeles Crabfest Experience is Back!

20221009_123140With the world deciding it’s best to live with the pandemic, many annual events have resumed and of the various foodie experiences in my region, I decided to make the Crabfest in Port Angeles my return to form. This event takes traditionally takes place on the first weekend of October.

I’m sorry Victoria, but what I’ve seen and done here is still the same ol’ same ol’, and I craved something new.  Not even the recently announced Maritime Museum’s Crabtober in November, a one day show, can match this Stateside experience. The key difference is that it’s a limited seating event than taking place at a public space (it sold out on the day it was announced) and people can’t wander around to look at arts and crafts vendors. There’s no mention of food trucks, thus making it seem like a closed event than something truly public like Esquimalt’s Ribfest.

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A Capital City Comic Con 2022 Update on Nearby Places to Dine

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Victoria, BC‘s Capital City Comic Con (Sept 23-25, 2022) is almost here, and after a two-year absence because of a pesky pandemic, everyone (at least local) is excited about it. This city had a handful of other shows throughout the years which did not last long. And the hope from the team of businesses involved with this show is that this fixture is a tourist attraction in the years to come. And hopefully, #Nerdtoria can become a hashtag to use to recognise fandom in this garden city.

For a complete round-up on what to expect, please check out our sister-site’s look at this upcoming show. This September event is exclusive to 2022, and CapCity (not Comic Con as it’s registered to the San Deigo event) is expected to resume in March 2023 as part of the Spring Break tradition.

Getting a bite in between panels or wandering around won’t be easy. The events from the past usually required patrons to the Victoria Conference Centre to buy from their in-house catering service, and outside food was not allowed. Things may change since the pandemic is not over and instead of packing people in, to keep everyone distanced is for the better. Until more news is announced, we offer this updated guide (last one was dated 2018 and a lot has changed since) to eateries nearby that’s worth the visit.

For in-event concession, the organisers reported that it’ll be in the Crystal Gardens venue.

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[Victoria, BC] Post Fringe Festival Thoughts and Upcoming Events Schedule

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The 2022 Victoria Fringe Festival is a wrap, and it’s almost a full return to form. This event ran from August 24 to Sept 4 and was well attended. I passed by many lineups while wandering Downtown Victoria at those venues that hosted, and the one big thing that changed, as a result of the pandemic, was the lack of seeing talents run from venue to venue to pass along flyers of their shows, and saying you must check it out. While there were fewer places hosting, that’s to be expected (assuming if they adhered to indoor health code regulations).

An internal change that not every patron is aware of is to buy tickets in advance (online or at the box office). I observed a few people were unaware, and instead of being turned away, were allowed to purchase at the door. I’m glad Intrepid Theatre was aware this situation may happen, and were prepared. I suspect further revisions will be in store to help streamline future events. And as the world transitions to accepting Covid-19 won’t go away, further tweaks will be made. All anyone can do is to be mindful in how things must now operate to keep everyone healthy and safe.

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Too Hungry While At North Park Multicultural Festival

20220724_113628DK: Victoria, BC’s North Park Multicultural Festival is unique for a couple reasons: 

  1. Vendors aren’t charged any fees 
  2. It’s explicitly marketed as culturally diverse. 

Does this make the quarterly event wildly different from any of the other market-type events hosted throughout the CRD? I certainly hoped it would!

ES: I wasn’t aware of this event until Don told me, and I suspect it started up when health restrictions were lifted to allow for such gatherings. Out by my neck of the woods, Saanich, we also have a similar type of show but do I really want to go to Uptown Mall? 

Downtown is a better choice–North Park is west of the city core, and it’s a beautiful area with a handful of diners and other goodness to wander around in. 

With this event at Royal Athletic Park, it took up one side more than to use the baseball diamond field. All I can say is batter up! Don and I were there to see what was offered, and there were some interesting goods that I could’ve picked up, but I wanted to fill up instead. I didn’t have breakfast.

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Is it Too Fast and Furious with Finest at Sea’s First Annual Spot Prawn and Fiddle Fest?

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DK: If I were more prone to hyperbole, I would encourage Ed to title this post “Angry Protesters Clash With Security, Disrupt First Annual Spot Prawn and Fiddle Festival.”

But that is not the real story of this promising new event. True, three young protesters were escorted out of the park shortly after the festival started, but most people missed whatever their message was. My advice to young activists: make sure your banner is facing the crowd when you’re being whisked away.

Maybe next year we’ll all learn why listening to fiddle music while sucking down prawns and watching youth rugby makes us bad people. For now, however, blissful ignorance! The real story of this year’s event was a large crowd got the chance to enjoy some damn good BBQ spot prawns.

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ES: June 12th marked the end of the season for harvesting these sweet, lovely crustaceans, and I’m going to miss them. Technically, one can buy them in the freezer section, but there’s no denying when they’re from the ocean to the tanks to the grill, the taste difference is enormous!

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What to See and Devour! The Food Film Fest 2021

Anyone able to make it to the Wolfville, Nova Scotia will be in for a treat at Devour! The Food Film Fest this year. Not only is there a noticable expanded Indigenous cuisine focus this year, but also, I truly wish I could be there in person. The Street Food Rally is always the highlight! It’s $5 per plate, and has a lot of tasty dishes from around the world, namely Mexico, Finland, Canada, and the United States.

The delights offered has me ready to hop a plane with no regard to making my comic book convention budget disappear. That’s because there’s a lot of game meats being offered that I’ve always wanted to taste. Plus, there’s something to the Autumn season which really makes me want to bulk up so I can hibernate later. But I digress. The following plates are from the official website:

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