The 31st annual Seafood Festival in Monmouth Country drew thousands of hungry Jersey residents.
BELMAR -- Prawns, crabs and clams drew upward of 100,000 to the Jersey Shore this weekend at the Belmar Seafood Festival.
From Friday to Sunday, vendors camped at Silver Lake Park, located in Monmouth County's Belmar borough, attracting locals to grab a bite of deep-fried shrimp, shop for handmade decorations, and listen to live music.
The menu varied from seafood like raw oysters, lobster rolls, and crab cakes to unique fare like alligator sausage. There were also non-seafood options like root beer floats and curly-fried potato chips.
The event is in its 31st year, but this is only the second year it has happened in May, said Matt Doherty, mayor of Belmar. The 2015 festival, held in June, attracted too huge a crowd, so the town decided to try and reschedule.
"Today was packed," he said. "It was a perfect way to end it."
This year, the event offered an expanded children's section, where kids could make their own fairy gardens or have their faces painted, he said.
The Seafood Festival made headlines weeks before the festival this year, when Doherty banned beer distributor Shore Points because he disapproved of their labor practices.
Shore Points Distributing Co., Inc. had locked out 120 of their workers, part of the local Teamsters 701, after a long-running contract dispute. Distributors Ritchie & Page Beer Distributing Co. stepped in to fill the void.
Members of the union stood under a tent at the festival, passing out a flyer asking locals and business owners to stop doing business with Shore Points.
Tom Gugh, a union member, said the employees had worked through the month without a contract, then came in to work only to be told he couldn't go on the property.
"At that point, they had their security set up, they had this well in the works before the contract," he said.
Erin Petenko may be reached at epetenko@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @EPetenko. Find NJ.com on Facebook.