County Councilman says Little River Blue Crab Festival committee to be formed within days

A new Little River Blue Crab Festival committee will hopefully be formed within the next several days, County Councilman Harold Worley said earlier this week.

The committee, which is being formed to make sure the annual festival moves forward, will give input on the operation of the event this year and help put it on, Worley said.

Organizers had canceled the 31st annual Blue Crab Festival for 2012, but expected it to return the following year.

A letter dated Nov. 10 was sent by festival chairman Allen E. Lee and vendor chairman Hubert Bullard, stating the festival would be off for this year while committee members addressed issues “such as [the] number of vendors the festival can accommodate, selection, placement and set up of vendors/exhibitors, vendor parking, entertainment, transportation and security.”

After that letter surfaced, Worley said the 2012 festival would happen with help from the Little River Chamber of Commerce and Little River waterfront businesses.

“We’re waiting on direction from the county council,” said Jennifer Walters, executive director at the Little River Chamber of Commerce. “The Little River Chamber will support the future of the festival any way we’re asked. The Blue Crab Festival is a tradition in Little River. We look forward to doing anything to help continue the festival.”

Festival volunteers and organizers asked that the county step in to help ensure the festival’s long-term existence – a request that Worley, whose District 1 includes Little River, relayed at the Dec.13 County Council meeting.

“Once everything is in order, County Council is willing to help with the Blue Crab Festival,” Worley said. “We’re going to continue to work with county staff to keep the festival going into the future. Obviously, we don’t want to take it over. As in years past, we want the [Blue Crab] committee to continue to run the festival.”

The new, revised committee is expected to have representation from Little River restaurants, according to Betsy Farnsley, owner of Key West Crazy Restaurant, a waterfront eatery. She thinks real organization is taking place and is excited about restaurants being represented on the committee.

Now her questions are “where do we go from here,” “who the committee will be,” “what changes will be made with the committee,” and “how restaurants can be represented.”

“The sooner decisions are made on how we go forward the better,” Farnsley said.

According to Worley, the festival will take place the third weekend in May, and applications are being accepted for vendors, which have been cut back from last year.

This year’s festival would have 250 vendors instead of 275.

Worley said that is “so waterfront restaurants can get the business as well.”

“One of the reasons of the festival is to bring business to the waterfront and Little River. If those people are not capitalizing on the festival, there’s no point of having it. We want to make sure they are happy before bringing in outside vending.”

Eric Masson, chef owner of The Brentwood Restaurant & Wine Bistro in Little River, said that he is happy the festival is on for this year, and plans to have a booth at the event.

“Little River cannot afford not to have the Blue Crab Festival,” Masson said. “It would hurt the businesses and discredit the festival itself. I’m very happy the Blue Crab Festival will happen.”