Celebrating 400 years of local seafood, the Fourth Annual Fish & Lobster Festival takes place Saturday, September 22nd, from 12 to 4 pm at Prescott Park in Portsmouth. This outdoor event, also known as the Fishtival, showcases fishing culture, industry and food:
Fourth Annual NH Fish & Lobster Festival
Prescott Park, Portsmouth, NH
Saturday, September 22, 2012
12 – 4 pm
Free Admission & Activities
Seafood tastings, pay-as-you-eat: $4, whole lobsters: $8
Celebrating 400 Years of Local Seafood — Featuring a Cook-Off, Games, Music, Fishing Boat Tours, and More!
Walk the decks of a local fishing boat, taste freshly-landed local seafood prepared by Seacoast chefs, learn to identify and prepare local fish, watch an on-location Seafood Throwdown cook-off competition, investigate the Gulf of Maine ecosystem, sing a song and hear a tale or two. Along the historic waterfront in Prescott Park, right beside the NH commercial fishing pier, it’s a great event for all ages with games, live music, demos, foul-weather gear, a fish relay race, trap building, fish printing, touch tanks, and so much more.
On September 22nd at 12:30pm, Chef Ian Thomas with The District and Chef Johnny Espeland from The Press Room, both of Portsmouth NH, will face off to see who can create a crowd pleasing dish from a mystery fish presented to them that day. They will be shuttled to the Portsmouth Farmers Market where they will have 20 minutes to shop for local produce to use within their dish. Susan Tuveson, the throwdown winner from last year, will emcee the event and will provide some great perspective on the local fishing industry as well as tips and techniques for utlizing local fish at home or in the restaurant. Judges for the contest will be Lorraine Merrill, the NH State Commissioner of Agriculture, Markets and Food, Esther Kennedy from the City of Portsmouth, and Peter Egelston of the Portsmouth Brewery. The Throwdown runs until 1:45 pm with additional speakers and music to follow.
Seafood Throwdown – They stemmed from the Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance and the Cape Anne Farmers Market as a way of promoting the ecological and economic importance of locally caught seafood, building a broader base of support for efforts to transform fisheries and ocean policies, and gauging community’s interest in Community Supported Fisheries (CSF). Granite State Fish has helped to organize this throwdown in Portsmouth, NH for the last 3 years and is excited to present this opportunity again. For more information on Seafood Throwdowns, check out NAMA’s website here: http://namanet.org/our-
Additional speakers include Josh Weirsma with NH Fishing Sectors at Portsmouth Harbor, Judy Dutra author of ‘Nautical Twilight’, a story of a Cape Cod fishing family, and more. Sharks Come Crusin’ will be the band to end the festival from 3-4pm.
Tasting vendors include Portsmouth Lobster Company, Seaport Fish, Blue Mermaid, Jumpin Jays Fish Cafe, The Common Man, Portsmouth High School Culinary Arts Program, Portsmouth Brewery, The Stone Church, Bonta, The Press Room and Little Bay Oyster Co.
For more information: www.prescottpark.org