Cities celebrate local foods while supporting the economy.
By Kaya Williams
What do Dungeness crab, lentils, and strawberries have in common?
For three Washington cities, these are the key ingredients for festivals that foster economic development, community engagement, and civic pride.
Consider the Port Angeles Dungeness Crab Festival, which for 25 years has been luring some 12,000 visitors—more than half the city’s population—including many from Vancouver Island who make an annual pilgrimage to feast on crab during the last weekend in October, which coincides with Canadian Thanksgiving. In addition to consumption, the point of the festival for most is partnerships with tribes, nonprofits, and other organizations that remind visitors about the importance of environmental stewardship and heritage. Throughout the weekend, festivalgoers get hands-on ecology lessons at the Feiro Marine Life Center, where Port Angeles Mayor Kate Dexter serves on the board of directors.
“It gives us an opportunity to say, ‘Hey, if you like this, you can join us,’” Dexter says. “You come out, you experience the festival, and then maybe you care about stewardship in a different way.”
On the other side of the state in Pullman, nicknamed the “Lentil Capital of the World,” locals foster a similar message when it comes to celebrating their community’s agricultural heritage. Since 1989, the population of Pullman has nearly doubled every year on the third weekend in August, when more than 20,000 visitors descend on Reaney Park for the National Lentil Festival. The weekend event revolves around lentil chili ladled from the “World’s Largest Chili Bowl” (a 350-gallon vat prepared by Washington State University Catering); a grand parade; sporting events, including the Tase T. Lentil 5K; a wine and beer garden; a main stage with live music; and a playground called Lil’ Lentil Land.
“We’re surrounded by agriculture,” says Mayor Francis Benjamin. “You can’t leave Pullman without crossing a farm.”
Benjamin notes that the festival reminds visitors, especially those from more urban areas who lack daily visual cues, where their food comes from. It’s an opportunity to talk about the agricultural economy around a giant bowl of lentil chili, he adds, but it’s as much about fun and togetherness as anything else.
“You think about the fabric of community and the impact that it has,” he says, noting that the festival serves as a welcome not just for visitors, but also for the college students who arrive around the same time for the fall semester, bolstering Pullman’s population and economy.
The Marysville Strawberry Festival dates to 1923, when Marysville was known as “Strawberry City.” The festival celebrates the community’s agricultural heritage even as suburban homes built on former strawberry fields and a proposed downtown and waterfront redevelopment have redefined the local landscape and economy.
People who have lived in Marysville for decades “will talk about the days when they picked strawberries as kids in the fields,” Mayor Jon Nehring says. Even though Marysville is now a city of 75,000, locals regard the strawberry as a civic icon—and the festival in its honor helps keep the small-town feel through events like a parade, carnival, car show, and strawberry shortcake eating contest.
“A yearly reminder of our heritage, with strawberry fields and agriculture, is something that’s grounding for people,” Nehring says. “It reminds them that this is their community. This is their home.”
For more information: cityofpa.us; pullman-wa.gov; marysvillewa.gov.
