This year’s rain-or-shine Mathews Seafood Festival promises to be an exciting event, with 1,200 or more people expected to attend and enjoy “a fantastic spread” of seafood and barbecue, shop a wide variety of wares being sold by local craft vendors, and sample the beer and wine that will be available for purchase.

The festival will be held from 3-8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24, at Williams Wharf in Mathews. Gates open at 2:15 p.m.

Organizer Robert Martin of The Seafood Shack said the rapid growth in the size of the festival is wonderful news for Mathews County’s first responders, who will benefit from the proceeds his booth takes in.

“It’s fantastic,” he said. “It’s exactly what I had in mind when I first started.”

Martin said people are coming from places as far away as New York and Florida to attend the festival. One woman from Pennsylvania called to order 18 tickets, he said. She had rented a house for the weekend just so she and her crowd could enjoy the event.

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