Seafood Festival serves the best of Gloucester

By BARBARA TAORMINA

Essex County Newspapers

GLOUCESTER _ Gloucester never tires of celebrating its fishing industry, local history and artists, and the city will showcase all three at this year's eighth annual Seafood Festival.

The three-day event _ which runs Friday, Sept. 14 through Sunday, Sept. 16 in St. Peter's Park _ caters to seafood lovers but also offers plenty of activities and entertainment chosen to appeal to all ages.

"We started the festival eight years ago to promote the local seafood industry and keep the Gloucester story alive," says Suzanne Silviera, Gloucester's tourism coordinator.

And with 40,000 visitors each year, Silviera believes the festival manages to do exactly that.

The highlight of the festival is the food tent where chefs from 10 North Shore restaurants will serve up Gloucester seafood as well as other traditional dishes.

"People can expect to find everything from boiled lobster and fish and chips to chowder and mussels," says Judy Caulkett, vice president of the festival.

On Sunday afternoon at 3:30, the festival will hold its second annual Seafood Skirmish, a live cook-off featuring three chefs whose recipes were voted most popular at Gloucester's New Fish Festival held earlier this year.

The chefs from El Souk, Schooners and Franklin Cape Ann, three of Gloucester's favorite restaurants, will all prepare a three-course meal that will be judged by a 10-member panel.

Although the skirmish is billed as a demonstration of the art of preparing seafood, Silviera says there are also plenty of samples that make their way to the audience.

In addition to the food tent, there will be a demonstration tent with maritime exhibits and a display of historical photographs. A crew from the historic schooner, Adventure, will also run several video presentations about the fishing industry and the history of Gloucester.

The Cape Ann Dive team will also be at the festival demonstrating its equipment and diving operations and the New England Aquarium will host a touch-tank exhibit of local sea creatures.

Local crafts people have always been part of the festival and this year, more than 40 artists are expected to set up booths offering jewelry, clothing, nautical items and other arts and crafts.

And festival organizers promise continuous entertainment throughout the three-day festival. This year's line-up of musical entertainment includes performances by the Walker Creek Band, Allen Estes and John Burrows.

On Sunday at 2 p.m. the festival will host its traditional Blindfolded Dory Boat Race. Blindfolded participants do their best to row a course in the Inner Harbor with the help of the audience.

This year's festival will run Friday, Sept. 14, from 4 to 7 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 15, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday, Sept. 16, from 11.a.m. to 6 p.m.

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