City of Crisfield’s Crab Derby becomes weekend-long event

The City of Crisfield is often referred to as the crab capital of the world. And the town lives up to it's name by hosting a massive Crab Derby festival that draws thousands of visitors every year.

"The Crab Derby is probably the best time of year in Crisfield. There's everybody from everywhere including the whole town of Crisfield. The Crab Derby is the best thing to look forward to," said Water's Edge Cafe employee Gabriella Blades.

In just a couple of months the city will be filled with thousands of visitors as they come to watch crab races, picking contests, and even concerts. But this time people will enjoy a full week of the Crab Derby's festivities.

"It always seems like we're trying to squeeze in so much in a short period of time and you always felt like not everybody could see everything that's going on and we wanted to expand on what we've got," said Crisfield Chamber of Commerce Vice President Buddy Ward.

After much deliberation from Crisfield's Chamber of Commerce, the once weekend-long celebration will now become a week long event.

"It used to be so jammed up one after the other after the other now you can really enjoy it. I think people are really going to enjoy it. We've got really neat heritage events around here that go on through crab derby, it's our homecoming. You get to see a lot of things here that you don't see anywhere else and we wanted to spread it out and let people enjoy them and have time for them," said Ward.

And local businesses say this new change will have a huge impact on the city's economy.

"In the summer time this place is packed. If you increase it to a week it's going to be way more money for every business in town the restaurants, all the lodging, gas stations, everything I mean that's a great idea," said Blades.

Originally Crisfield's Crab Derby would take place on Labor day Weekend, but now officials say the celebration will begin on Monday August 27th and will run until Sunday September 2nd.