HOW TO GO
What: Ohio Fish and Shrimp Festival
Where: Freshwater Farms of Ohio, 2624 U.S. 68, Urbana
When: Today-Sunday, Sept. 14-16; Hours: 5 to 9 p.m. today, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday
Cost: $4, children age 2 and younger get in free; Get hand stamped to come back all weekend for free
More info: (800) 634-7434 or fwfarms.com/festival
STAGE SCHEDULE
Today
5 p.m. Honey Compass
6:30 p.m. The Salty Caramels
8 p.m. Daniel Dye and The Miller Road Band
Saturday
11 a.m. Fittro & Davis
12:30 p.m. Kick-N-Flava
2 p.m. Shrimp Peeling & Eating Contest
3 p.m. Jamie Karg
4:30 p.m. Demolition Crew
6:30 p.m. Nerak Roth Patterson Band
Sunday
12 p.m. Sixcents
1:30 p.m. Grassahol
3:30 p.m. Vernon McIntyre’s Appalachian Grass
5:30 p.m. The Cowboy Hillbilly Hippy Folk
Based on the abundance of seafood, you may think you’re on an ocean coast this weekend if you attend the Ohio Fish and Shrimp Festival at Freshwater Farms in Urbana.
“We harvest about 800 to 1000 pounds of shrimp every year,” said Cherie dela Rama, retail marketing manager for Freshwater Farms of Ohio. In addition to the shrimp, there will be trout and tilapia, and, for those who are seafood intolerant, ribs, pulled pork and chicken.
But there’s more than food at this festival. “We have live music all weekend and lots of exhibits like sturgeon, a petting zoo, feeding trout by hand, an alligator, turtles, frogs, salamanders and other native critters, plus games and activities for all ages,” said dela Rama. New this year is a game called Dr. Dave’s Discovery Hunt, an educational scavenger hunt for kids 10 and younger to learn about aquaculture and get codes to open a secret treasure box.”
“One of the most popular parts of the festival is the shrimp,” said dela Rama. “We sell fresh whole shrimp by the pound for people to take home. That starts at 10 a.m. Saturday, and we usually sell out in a couple of hours.”
The shrimp is a large prawn raised in local ponds. “Freshwater shrimp farming is growing in popularity,” said dela Rama. “It takes a warm climate to grow them. We put them in the ponds in June when they are about one inch long and we have to harvest them by the third week of September or it gets too cold for them.”
Many of the kid’s games will be operated by the American Cancer Society who will keep all the proceeds from the games. They also will have inflatables, a gem mining sluice and a coloring contest for ages 3-11.
“By far the most popular event is the shrimp peeling and eating contest,” said dela Rama. “It takes place at 2 p.m. on Saturday on the main stage, and there’s a $5 fee to enter. The participants get 10 shrimp per plate, and the winner is the person who finishes first. The winner gets $50 cash.”
This is the 11th year for the festival, which got started because Dr. Dave Smith, president of Freshwater Farms, wanted to host an event to raise awareness of the health benefits of seafood and the importance of preserving aquatic life. “We have plenty of free parking this year due to our recent purchase of property just south of our farm,” said dela Rama.
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