Chowder aficionados don’t have to wait much longer.
This weekend, the Penn Cove MusselFest will draw fans of the mighty mollusk to Coupeville for chowder tasting, live music, a beer and wine garden, and family activities.
The Mussel Mingle is 5:30-8:30 p.m. Friday at Coupeville Recreation Hall. Participants will dine on Prairie Dogs, mussels and frites and enjoy beer and wine while listening to the band Broken Banjo.
Tickets are $20 and are pre-sold at Aqua Gifts, bayleaf and the Coupeville Chamber office.
Tickets are $25 at the door.
Nearly every restaurant in town is participating in the mussel chowder contest, said Vickie Chambers, executive director of the Coupeville Historic Waterfront Association, or CHWA.
CHWA sells three different tickets, each with five tastings per ticket. In all, 1,500 tickets are typically sold Saturday and Sunday.
Tickets always sell out early on Saturday, Chambers warns.
Chowder-making restaurant participants receive 50 pounds of mussels, onions and potatoes by CHWA and Penn Cove Shellfish.
The rest of the ingredients and innovation is up to the participant.
Each business plans to give out 500 samples of chowder each day.
“It’s a huge time and financial commitment (for our businesses),” Chambers said.
Free shuttles will take chowder tasters around town.
In addition to the chowder tasting, two beer gardens will offer beverages, music and more mussels.
Penn Cove Shellfish hosts a big tent across from the Coupeville Rec Hall on Saturday. Live music goes until 9 p.m.
Proceeds from the tent go to the Coupeville Boys and Girls Club and Coupeville High School Science Scholarships.
Curious where all these mussels come from?
A boat will leave Coupeville Wharf every hour from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day for one-hour tours of the Penn Cove Mussel Farm. Tickets are $10 and are sold at the Rec Hall.
There will also be several children’s activities including “fishing” for treasures, music performances and arts and crafts.
Make your way to the Windjammer dock 12-2 p.m. both days for a chance to catch a golden mussel.
It’s fun to watch the fishing, and people will line up along the wharf to watch the fishers down on the beach, Chambers said.
Each day at 3 p.m., contestants line up at the Rec Hall to see who can eat three 16-ounce cups of mussels the fastest.
