The Abingdon Ruritan Club Seafood Festival hits a milestone this spring. May 16 will mark the 70th time members and volunteers have come together to put on the popular festival that now draws 2,200 people twice a year—in the spring and fall.
With this milestone comes special recognition by festival sponsor Budweiser, said Ruritan vice president Mary Lou Shepherd during a recent interview. The company will install a giant beer garden, complete with televisions, music, special seating, and an overall festive environment.
But that won’t be all the event will offer. The club throws “one heck of a party” for the price of a $50 ticket, said member Jim Leiffer. Thirty-two sponsored booths will line the festival grounds, offering every kind of seafood and beverage imaginable between the hours of 3 and 8 p.m. Clam fritters; fried and steamed oysters; oysters on the half-shell; clam chowder and steamed clams; fried scallops and fried fish; steamed shrimp and crabs, all served up with hush puppies, cole slaw, French fries, wine and cheese, cake and ice cream, and all the beer, wine and mixed drinks a body can handle in five hours. The drink most folks will be looking for will be the vodka-based Guinea Gotcha, which has its own secret recipe.
“It’s all you can eat and all you can drink for five hours,” said member Rupert Thomas.
On top of that, there will be live music by The Soul Intent Band, playing oldies, goodies, and crowd favorites. The crowd can gather to eat under two covered pavilions that offer 10,000 square feet of shelter, so the festival is held rain or shine.
The Magnificent Seven will be recognized during the festival, said Shepherd. These are seven of the men who helped organize the first festival in 1980. Aged anywhere from 70-85, the men are “still with us and the still work hard at every festival,” she said.
The festival has changed quite a bit over the years for the club members and volunteers, but to the crowds it still looks much the same. That’s because the club decided to “tweak it but still stick with what works,” said member Sid Dugas.
Thomas recalled using a drill to make clam fritter batter in the early years. He’d make it in a bucket, holding the bucket with his feet so it wouldn’t spin. Now the club has a commercial mixer, he said.
In the beginning, there was just one booth built of 2 x 4s with a canvas canopy, said Dugas, but booths have been added annually, expanding the capacity for serving guests. It now takes around 180 members and volunteers to handle all the labor.
L.T. Wells does all the buying for the festival. In the days and weeks leading up to May 16, he’ll shop around for the best price on 1,250 pounds of scallops, 900 pounds of shrimp, 85 gallons of oysters to fry and 55 bushels of oysters to serve roasted and raw, 400 pounds of fish, and 400 pounds of potatoes. The club will make 75 gallons of chowder, 350 pounds of barbecue, 50 gallons of cocktail sauce, and 150 pounds of slaw. It will take $1,000 worth of cooking oil for all the frying that will be done, said Wells, and he’ll spend around $35,000 on the seafood.
Shepherd said that the Ruritans hold the Seafood Festival as a way of giving back to the community. Since 1980, the festival has made $4,968,000, much of which has gone back into the community in the form of grants that total around $65,000 annually. The festival also supplements maintenance for the club’s building.
Although participants can have all they want to eat and drink for the price of their ticket, the Ruritans are cognizant of problems that might arise, so they keep an eye out for people who shouldn’t be allowed to drink anymore. Everyone involved took an ABC course in recognizing inebriation. In addition, armed deputies from the sheriff’s office are always walking around the festival, and alcohol service is cut off a half hour before the festival ends.
“There’s rarely anybody out of control,” said Leiffer.
Anyone interested in attending the Abingdon Ruritan Club Spring Seafood Festival should buy their tickets soon. The event is limited to 2,200 participants, and it usually sells out quickly.
Tickets are available online at www.abingdonruritanclub.com/seafood-festival/ and at the following outlets: Tillage Motors, Whitley’s Peanuts, Hogge Real Estate, Weatherwax Allstate Insurance, Juan’s, and Lyn’s Mini Mart. In addition, Charlie Dail of P&C Wholesale will meet anyone at any time with tickets. His number is 757-342-3838.