Lions’ Seafood festival a hit

By Maurice Emery
Editor Emeritus

It is the biggest one day family reunion for many families on the Lake each year. It is the biggest one day party on the Lake each year. It is the biggest luncheon on the Lake each year. It is also the biggest fund raiser for the Lake Gaston Lions Club each year.

It is the 22nd Annual Lake Gaston Lions Annual Seafood Festival.

This year’s festival was dedicated to Lion Bruce Parizo. In the annual seafood festival booklet the club states, “Bruce set a solid example of volunteering and giving back to the community.” He has been married to Jan for 56 years.  He is also recognized as “world renowned ad salesman for the Seafood Festival [book].” 

The gates opened at 1 p.m., but the crowd started to arrive as early as 11:30 a.m. It was a hot, slightly cloudy, humid day that greeted them. It was one of those that you didn’t have to move and you would still sweat days. Surprisingly, as hot as it was the Warren County Rescue Squad, on hand to handle emergencies, told the Observer that all they had to do was hand out two band-aids. 

First in line this year were several relatives and friends of the O’Neill clan. Mavis O’Neill, Terri Morgan, Richard Evans, Alica Morgan, Michael O’Neill, John Smarr and Otto Morgan were waiting for the gates open. They were part of a much larger group from the Northern Virginia area. Several O’Neill’s have homes on the lake and the annual festival is like a family reunion.

The attendees get more organized each year. Some of the items are as cheap as box tops cut out to hold six drink cups, some cost several hundred dollars like the instant pop up tents. All of the assorted serving, holding, sitting or shading items were there for one purpose – to make the event as easy and comfortable as possible.    

Lake area attendees were well represented. Close to the front of the second line were a few local folks.  Horace, Post Commander of the American Legion Post 425, and Alice T. Knight, and family members were also on hand. According to Horace and Alice the last time they were at the festival was when it was held in the Elams area. But they were glad to be back. 

As people were waiting for the gates to open several Lions club volunteers made their way through lines for various reasons. Susan Ohmsen, a volunteer from Suffolk, Va., was handing out safety pins so the people could pin their tickets to their clothing, making it visible for the festival staff at the gate to see.

Two other volunteers came through the line checking ID’s. They told everyone under 30 to have their ID’s ready, they then proceeded to place armbands on those who were of legal age.

Right outside the gate was the Lions portable vision screening vehicle. Several party goers told the Observer that they could only have their eyes checked before they started drinking, afterwards they would be seeing double.

The gates opened promptly at 1 p.m. Then the rush was for the best spot to party. Some people already knew where to go and would head to that special place. Others would be asking where are we going.  Others could be heard saying, “All right let’s see where to go.”  The bandstand area seemed to be the target for most people.

The early arrivers knew that the best spots would be taken quickly. There were several tents set up for people to use, but the majority of tents and canopies would be set up by the users. As fast as you could walk the several hundred yards to the band area the tents started to go up. 

Many of the attendees had done this many times and had their tents up in minutes. There were also some novices that came prepared with their brand new tent. This would be the first time for Mike and Ann Uhlman, along with Micky and Susan Martin, from Norcava on Lake Gaston.  It took them a  little longer to set-up their tent, but they had a good time doing it.  They had it up in plenty of time for the dinner bell. 

After people got their areas set up and ready to use they spent their time catching up with one another and listening to the recorded music. When the chicken dance was played attendees from all over the area did the dance. Some danced in their chairs, others danced around the area. One of those enjoying the dance was Paul Tilton, the Wobbie Island beach master; he did his best to encourage others to join in.  He danced away with his knee brace in place.

At about 1:45 p.m. there was a mass movement to the various food booths. Within minutes the various tent areas would have one person left behind to guard their place and the rest of the group would head up to whatever booth was serving what they wanted. Almost anything that could hold a drink or food container was used. Card board box tops, wire baskets, TV trays and cafeteria style trays were all used to make sure they could get your food back to their area. 

They had different booths for the steamed shrimp, steamed and fresh oysters, deep fried trout, baked beans, cole slaw and hush puppies, as well as several booths for various drinks. 

In place of a dinner bell the horns went off and the sirens blared at 2 p.m. the applause followed and then it was time to get their food. The Lions have used their 22 previous festivals to fine tune the best ways to serve 2,000 people as fast as possible. It wasn’t long before people were coming back to their picnic areas ready to eat the food of the day – seafood with a couple of side dishes.

The larger groups appeared to assign someone to get a specific item.  Someone would come back with several servings of shrimp another person would have several servings of hush puppies and others would have the drinks. 

There were also tables set up for those who wanted to stand and eat. Then there was the famous oyster bar.  Two hours after the eating started they were still crowding around the oyster bar. Miki Davis told us early on that she had a plan on how to attack the oyster bar. A lifetime oyster lover from the Wilmington area, she had her first before age five. Miki told us that she would be eating a lot when they opened the bar, take a break and then go back.

Many of the attendees must have had the same plan of attack. All the seafood and drinks you can handle for $25 brought out many of the hardiest eaters and drinkers. 

People were quickly enjoying the reason most of them came to the festival. We did hear one lady say the food wasn’t important implying it was the company that mattered. Georgia Ellis from Greensboro told us that this was an annual event. When we asked how long she had been coming she replied “This is my second year, but I will be back.” 

As people were eating the Switch band started to play.  The band did its best to get the crowd involved from the moment it hit the stage. Initially the crowd was more concerned with eating than dancing; as the day wore on the dance area saw more and more people taking advantage of the music and party atmosphere.

It seemed that everyone came for a good time, and nothing would get in the way of them doing just that.  We also learned that many of the attendees were planning on coming back for the Lake Gaston Lions Club 23rd Annual Seafood Festival.