Another Crab Fest weekend has come and gone, with the City of Mandurah calling it the best yet.
One hundred and sixty-five thousand people took to Mandurah on Saturday and Sunday to enjoy the rides, live entertainment, concerts, food experiences, markets and special cruises.
The entertainment stage buzzed all weekend, with thousands gathering in the foreshore for Justice Crew on Saturday night and Thirsty Merc on Sunday afternoon.
Food lovers also had the opportunity to try mouthwatering crab dishes and learn new recipes from some of Australia’s leading chefs at the Harvey Norman cooking stage.
And even Mayor Marina Vergone joined chef Dale Sniffen on stage cooking healthy crab burgers for the attendees.
“Crab Fest goes from strength to strength each year, and we’re so happy to have built on our successes to deliver another highlight festival that was enjoyed by thousands of local, national and international visitors,” Mandurah Mayor Marina Vergone.
“It was really lovely to see so many people our and about in our beautiful city, and enjoying the newly redeveloped eastern foreshore.”
The festival also had plenty of entertainment options for younger punters, with games and live shows available at the children’s stage.
40 children also participated in this year’s Crab Fest dress up competition which saw mermaids, pirates, seaweed, crabs and princesses take over Smart Street Mall on Saturday afternoon.
This year, those who wished to get away from the crowd had the chance to buy tickets to exclusive food experiences such as the Crab Boil and the fairy-like High Tea Under the Fig Tree.
And tickets to both the Dinner Under the Stars with Fervor and the Progressive Dinner Cruise sold out ahead of the event.
Art also played an important role in this year’s event, with local artists being rewarded at the Plein Air art awards.
Artist Jos Coufreur took the contemporary style award home, Leon Holmes become the traditional style winner, and Lulu Ball’s painting was also chosen by punters as this year’s people’s choice award winner.
During the weekend, Mandurah’s beloved artist Emma Blyth also auctioned off her colourful signature 2017 Crab Fest artwork, raising $5400 for Mandurah Primary School.
According to Mandurah police senior sergeant Steve Thompson, the Crab Fest weekend was also almost incident-free with only a few people misbehaving.
Marta Pascual Juanola
Photojournalist from Barcelona, currently based in WA. Five languages speaker: English - Català - Español - Norsk - العربية.
Photojournalist from Barcelona, currently based in WA. Five languages speaker: English - Català - Español - Norsk - العربية.
