The 38th Annual Festival of the Sea drew thousands of visitors to Point Pleasant Beach on Saturday.
POINT PLEASANT BEACH - Fresh lobster, peel-and-eat shrimp, blackened tuna bites and buffalo clam strips were only the tip of the iceberg of the smorgasbord that was the 38th Annual Festival of the Sea on Saturday.
Dozens of vendors lined Arnold and Bay avenues on Saturday, as thousands of visitors feasted on an array of food options, shopped at merchandise tents and danced to live musical performances.
"Good food, good music, fun in the sun," said Jessica Stone, of Point Pleasant. "We hit up the Shore Fresh Seafood Market and we also got some butterfly fries, everything was so good."
Chefs International, which operates nearly a dozen restaurants in New Jersey and Florida, including Jack Baker's Lobster Shanty and the Wharfside Patio Bar in Point Pleasant Beach, has taken part in the festival since its inception.
"It used to be just local vendors, an end of the summer type of thing. But every year there are more and more vendors, and the crowd grows every year. It's a great event," said Bob Cooper, president of Chefs International. "It gives our employees a way to make some extra money at the end of the season, it's a great advertisement for us and the town does a great job with it."
This year's menu included crab legs, steamers, lobster rolls and the featured item, Maine lobsters.
"We have our temperature control tanks here... he pulls them out live and cooking them on site. There's no better lobster anywhere," Cooper said.
This was the seventh year Klein's Fish Market took part in the Festival of the Sea.
"The tourists are only here for the summer, but most of the people who come to this festival are locals and are hear year round," Todd Vitalis said while preparing lobster tails on Saturday afternoon. "Belmar is only a few minutes away from Point Pleasant, so this festival a good way to get our name out down here and to customers who might not come up otherwise."
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