Port Angeles – The Dungeness Crab Festival in Port Angeles was awarded “Outstanding Event”, the top honor at the 2025 State of Washington Tourism Conference last week in Spokane.
The annual award recognizes an event held exclusively in Washington that “celebrates the vibrancy and unique aspects of the state. It must have been created in the past three years or have undergone a new evolution, and must contribute to overnight tourism and overall community vibrancy.”
Festival Director Rose Thompson called it ”an award for our entire community”, and she recognized “the hundreds and hundreds of volunteers, sponsors, businesses, and residents who come together each year to make CrabFest the success it is.”
While the Dungeness Crab Festival has been a cornerstone fall event in Port Angeles for more than 20 years, last year it was restructured as a nonprofit organization to better align with the cultural, historical, and economic features of greater Port Angeles and Olympic Peninsula communities. Thompson was named as its first executive director, and a volunteer board of directors provides oversight.