Chill out at the Yachats Crab Feed
By Barbara B. Covell
For the TODAY
It’s crab season on the Oregon coast and the Yachats Lions Club is ready to serve them up. For 26 years, people have flocked to the normally quiet city of Yachats to partake in an annual tradition known as the Crab Feed.
Typically an event featuring “all you can eat,” the feed has always been a social gathering for families and groups who come from Oregon, Washington and beyond. But things for this year’s event on Saturday, Jan. 29, have been reconfigured for safety.
Coordinator Kevin Yorks said the tradition will continue a bit differently, as it did in 2021. “Crab meals will be available for takeout only,” he said. “Tickets are available for purchase online and there is a choice of three different time slots for a drive-by pickup at the Lions Club Hall.”
Yorks says this method was successful last year and there were no crowds showing up at the same time. Each meal purchased consists of one whole two-pound crab, coleslaw, homemade bread and butter.
“We sold out in January last year at 230 meals,” Yorks said. “This year we are increasing the number of meals we can sell and offering the option for online purchase of an extra crab.”
So far, more than 150 meals have already been sold.
The locally harvested crab, cooked and cleaned, will be provided by South Beach Fish Market. An assembly line of volunteers will then put together each dinner.
“We are already staffed up on volunteers,” Yorks said. “Everyone will wear masks and follow protocols for proper sanitation. Every safety guideline is being followed and our facility has been health inspected.”
In the early years of the crab feed, members of the Lions Club cooked and cleaned all the crab themselves. Yorks says the event grew so large that they could no longer do that.
The event began in 1992 and with attendance topping 450 at three separate seatings, it quickly became the largest event to benefit the Yachats community.
All profits are donated back to the area, benefitting local charities and nonprofit organizations, Oregon Sight and Hearing and youth scholarship awards. In 2021, the club donated $25,000, making it one of the top five Oregon Lions Clubs in profit donations.
“Our biggest source of profit is the Yachats Thrift Store, located at 236 4th Street,” Yorks said. “It is now our funding source and greatly supported by Yachats residents who donate and shop locally. The Lions Thrift Store has served this area for more than 40 years.”
It is also a draw for new Lions Club members.
“Our membership has blossomed over the past year to approximately 30. We have many young members, as well as people new to the area and the Lions Club organization.”
With the motto “We Serve,” the Yachats Lions Club is celebrating 71 years of service to Yachats and South County. It is part of Lions Club International, the world’s largest service club organization with more than 48,000 clubs and a network of 1.4 million men and women in more than 200 countries worldwide. At the heart of each Lion Club is the one constant: service within their community and globally.
“Each Lions Club offers opportunities for leadership, friendship and meaningful connections,” Yorks said. “And we have fun doing it.”
Tickets are $35 per person for a full meal, extra crab is $25. Pickup time slots are from 3 to 6 pm at the Yachats Lions Club Hall, located at 344 4th Street. Online payments can be made via PayPal or a debit or credit card. For more information, go to yachatslionsclub.org or email lionscrabfeed2022@gmail.com.