Cruising about the NC Seafood Festival in Morehead City
The North Carolina Seafood Festival is held the first
weekend of October, and the three day extravaganza (Friday through Sunday) is
publicized as the second largest festival in North Carolina.The affair goes down along MoreheadCity’s
waterfront, known as the CrystalCoast.Sounded like a fun family outing so we drove
two and a half hours north last Sunday to enjoy the fun.
Despite the sizable crowd, tons of food and multitude of
vendors and carnival rides, the venue impressed us as little more than an
oversize school fair.There were more
seafood options than you would typically find, but everything was the standard
fried crap which carnivals are notorious for.May have been because we got there during the last day, but no special
events, a few mediocre local bands performing and the standard carnival
rides.It was kind of neat how the
festival is situated right in the town (I’m accustomed to fairs like this being
in a field by themselves) and we certainly enjoyed the locals partying on their
front porches – they were all fun and sociable.
We only stayed a few hours and there may be some showcase
events we missed, but it didn’t wow us.Still a fun time, just not enough to warrant five hours back and forth
to attend.
Aloha Vance. Congratulations on your feature. North Carolina is a great state. Most of my Carolina adventures took place in the Blue Ridge mountains, not the coastal region.
While attending the NC Seafood Festival we decided to duck into the Sanitary Fish Market, lured in by the unusual name. If I recall the history presented on their menu correctly, the joint was started up by a couple of local fisherman and the entrepreneurs secured the prime location on the waterfront in Morehead City for a bargain rate by promising not to serve alcohol and keeping the place spotless! It is a spacious restaurant; chock full of pictures and sea memorabilia.
Things started off on a good note when our waitress dropped off a basket of hushpuppies. These were easily the best hushpuppies we’ve had in quite some time! The menu, however, only offered basic selections, the one exception being their clam chowder, which is more like chicken and rice soup with clams – they don’t use tomato or butter for the broth. I found it different and quite tasty. Alas, my entrée, shrimp creole, was bland and very teensy for the price. This verdict rang true for my wife and daughter in their selections as well. Though disappointed by the food, we had no complaints about the service or the calming views we got to enjoy of the Crystal Coast while we dined.
