slides: Party Report: Celebrity Crab Cracking Contest at Seafood & Wine Fest

Monday, February 02, 2015

Byron Beck, GoLocalPDX Features Editor

crab contest

Celeb Crab Cracking Contest Contestants and officiants.

The Tenth Annual Portland Seafood and Wine Festival at the Oregon Convention Center landed smack dab in the middle of Dungeness Crab season.

The festive event featured fresh Oregon seafood, wines from over 50 Oregon wineries and selected Oregon craft beer vendors, live music and benefitted The Oregon Chapter of the National MS Society.

On top of all that seafood, on Friday a Celebrity Crab Cracking Championship was held with local broadcast weatherman and other celebs types including GoLocalPDX's own Byron Beck and radio DJ Rick Bubba Taylor on hand to crack crabs. The event was hosted by Crab Cracking Contest creator Gregg LeBlanc with officiating provided by the Director of the Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission.

The big difference from previous crab crackings was that this year the contestants were given only two crabs and were asked to shell as much crab as they could in ten minutes out of each crustacean. The short competition was close as could be, with the final winner being Rick Bubba Taylor. Second place went to GoLocalPDX's own Byron Beck who was able to beat the other contestants that included weather folks such as KGW's Nick Allard, KATU's Dave Salesky, KPTV's Andy Carson and KOIN's Sally Showman.

Related Slideshow: Celebrity Crab Cracking Contest at Seafood & Wine Fest

The Tenth Annual Portland Seafood and Wine Festival at the Oregon Convention Center landed smack dab in the middle of Dungeness Crab season.

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Nick Allard

KGW's Nick Allard at the Tenth Annual Portland Seafood and Wine Festival at the Oregon Convention Center featuring the annual Celebrity Crab Cracking Championship.

Photo by Byron Beck.

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Andy and Sally

KPTV's Andy Carson and KOIN's Sally Showman at the Tenth Annual Portland Seafood and Wine Festival at the Oregon Convention Center featuring the annual Celebrity Crab Cracking Championship.

Photo by Byron Beck.

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Kim and Matt

KPTV's Kim Maus & Matt Weishoff at the Tenth Annual Portland Seafood and Wine Festival at the Oregon Convention Center featuring the annual Celebrity Crab Cracking Championship.

Photo by Byron Beck.

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Crab Cracking Contestants

Crab crackers and officiants at the Tenth Annual Portland Seafood and Wine Festival at the Oregon Convention Center featuring the annual Celebrity Crab Cracking Championship.

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Sean and Gregg

Washougal Mayor Sean Guard and Gregg LeBlanc at the Tenth Annual Portland Seafood and Wine Festival at the Oregon Convention Center featuring the annual Celebrity Crab Cracking Championship.

Photo by Byron Beck.

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Robin and Wendy

Robin Bloom and Wendy Deckard at the Tenth Annual Portland Seafood and Wine Festival at the Oregon Convention Center featuring the annual Celebrity Crab Cracking Championship.

Photo by Byron Beck.

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Wine Time

One of various winery experts at the Tenth Annual Portland Seafood and Wine Festival at the Oregon Convention Center featuring the annual Celebrity Crab Cracking Championship.

Photo by Byron Beck.

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Scott Germann

Scott Germann at the Tenth Annual Portland Seafood and Wine Festival at the Oregon Convention Center featuring the annual Celebrity Crab Cracking Championship.

Photo by Byron Beck.

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Seafood and Wine Folks

Festival Director Rex Leach and his spouse at the Tenth Annual Portland Seafood and Wine Festival at the Oregon Convention Center featuring the annual Celebrity Crab Cracking Championship.

Photo by Byron Beck.