Now that’s fast food

By Emily Lindblom

For the TODAY

The small fishing town of Garibaldi will grow in size over the weekend as hundreds of visitors come to cheer on locally caught crab in a race. The stakes are high for these Dungeness crabs — the contestants who don’t come in first place become dinner for the crowd.

The 36th Annual Garibaldi Crab Races is slated for Saturday and Sunday, March 11 and 12, at the Old Mill RV Park & Event Center. The event is a fundraiser for the Garibaldi Lions Club.

Jeff Coon, sight and hearing assistance chairman, said the club gives out free eyeglasses for whoever needs them, supports Canine Companions and more.

“The main event is pretty much always the actual crab races themselves, with quite a bit of hoopla and excitement,” said Coon, who does most of the ordering and stocking leading up to the crab races. “The local Garibaldi crab fleet donates the crabs from their catch. The local crabbers have been very generous to us and they get behind us. It’s been a good cooperation and we are so thankful for that group.”

Kelly Barnett, Lions Club treasurer, estimated the local fleet donates about 500 to 1,100 pounds of crab each year. He is the race’s “stable manager.” Owner of The Spot seafood market in Garibaldi, he takes care of the live crabs at his dock then cooks them for the dinner following the races.

“The winning crabs come back to the stables and we save them for individual folks to come in and adopt,” Barnett said, adding that if there are leftover crabs after the event, the Lions Club sells them to raise more funds for its causes. 

Barnett has been involved in the crab races for 20 years and what keeps him coming back is the “desire to help out with such a big event, our largest fundraiser of the year, that helps with sight and hearing and Christmas baskets and helping out people in our community between Idaville and Barview.”

Coon said the races started in local pubs.

“They were bored in the middle of winter and the weather was bad, so someone came up with an idea, ‘let's race crabs,’” he said.  “So they made a circle on the floor and whoever’s crab got out of the circle first was the winner.”

The event grew into a community gathering and the Tillamook Chamber of Commerce ran it for a few years before the Lions Club took it on.

This weekend, the crabs will be brought over to the Old Mill RV Resort where six will race at a time down a slanted table track divided into lanes.

“The crabs need a little help to get to the end,” Coon said. “There’s someone behind every crab — your racer so to speak. There’s a gate and they lift it and the crabs walk down sideways.”

Coon estimated that it costs the Lions Club about $7,000 to put on the event each year. In 2022, the fundraiser brought in about $20,000, so the club could net $13,000. The City of Garibaldi provides the club a grant to help put on the event, and Coon said the Old Mill lends a lot of support as well.

“Even though the Lions are heading it up, it will take 15 people working at one time during those days, plus quite a bit of setup,” he said. “So it’s a lot of local volunteers and support as well.”

As the stable manager, Barnett said he likes meeting the community volunteers.

“Some we’ve seen for years and others come out of nowhere when it happens,” he said. “The volunteers make it happen and it’s always exciting to meet those people and feel the enthusiasm for the event because it’s all about having a good time.” 

As Lions Club treasurer, he enjoys making the big deposits from the fund-raiser and writing the checks to help the community.

“We do well over a dozen eyeglasses per year, several hearing aids and a Christmas basket program every year,” Barnett said. “We’ve bought walkers for folks. If we see a problem, we try to address it.”

The 46th Annual Garibaldi Crab Races will run from 11 am to 5 pm on Saturday, March 11, and 11 am to 4 pm on Sunday, March 12, at the Old Mill RV Resort, 210 Third Street in Garibaldi. Admission is $5 for adults, $2 for kids aged six through 12 and free for those five and younger. For more information, go to the 2023 Garibaldi Crab Races page on Facebook.