This weekend I went to the Spot Prawn Festival at Fisherman’s Warf, by Granville Island. The event marks the beginning of the 8 week period during which you can purchase freshly caught spot prawns directly from the boat. In its third year, the festival (press release here) is designed to promote the spot prawn, a locally caught, environmentally sustainable type of prawn, that has traditionally been sold almost exclusively in the Japanese market.

A gorgeous day, we headed over with excitement, but planned poorly. The reality of prawns and crowds on a hungover Saturday morning may not be the best plan I’ve ever had. But there was an impressive turnout, and everyone seemed in good spirits. There were some booths with wine samples, coffee samples, cook books, and games for kids.  And there was a line-up of hard-at-work chefs from local restaurants such as Fuel and the Blue Water Cafe, cooking up a variety of prawn dishes. For $10 a plate, you could fill it up with a sample of each dish.  The only problem was the line. There was about a 10 person line-up to get a plate, and then with your plate, you joined a line that stretched all the way back to go fish, the excellent take-out restaurant (boasting its its own long line). It was daunting to me, but we saw many people lining up for a second serving.

I was also disappointed that although we arrived in time for one of the scheduled cooking demonstrations, we could not seem to find any, beyond the busy cooking that was going on at the serving tables.  At one point there was some panic as the prawns look set to run out, but this was quickly answered by one of the fishing boats offering as many prawns from their still-live catch as needed.

In the end, we did not enjoy this event to its potential, but I can testify that the food looked delicious, there were plenty of prawns everywhere, and that people seemed to be having a great time, despite the long waits.  Next year I will plan better.