False Creek Crab Fest celebrates B.C. Dungeness fishery on Sunday, July 26

The False Creek Crab Fest returns Sunday, July 26, from noon to 4 p.m. at False Creek Fishermen's Wharf, celebrating B.C.'s Dungeness crab fishery and connecting diners directly with the people who catch their food.

Tickets are $70 and include one Dungeness crab plate, a sweet treat, and two beverage tasting tickets. The festival is a co-production of the B.C. Crab Fishermen's Association (BCCFA) and Chef's Table Society, now in its fourth year.

Locally harvested Dungeness crab is prized for its sweet flavour and high proportion of meat. It's used in crab boils, pasta, salads, chowders, and cakes—and Sunday's centrepiece is a crab boil prepared by local chefs including Vish Mayekar of Elem Restaurant and Johnny Bridge, president of Chefs' Table Society. Guests can indulge in whole crab paired with B.C. craft beverages while meeting the fishers themselves.

"They'll probably still be wearing their fishing gear. They'll have been out fishing that morning and come back just before the event, so they'll likely still have their rain gear and boots on," said Megan Eadie, executive director of the BCCFA. Eadie, who holds a degree in environmental studies from UBC, has been with the association since the first Crab Fest in 2023. "Organizing it was one of the first projects I worked on. We'd wanted to host something like this in False Creek for a long time, and it took a while to get it going. Now it's going strong."

The festival mirrors the annual Spot Prawn Festival in celebrating the bounty of local waters. While only a few crab species are household names worldwide—Dungeness, King, and Snow—Dungeness is the Pacific coast favourite.