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A group of friends from Raleigh who weekend on Lake Gaston had a tailgate celebration while waiting for the gates to open at the 21st Annual Lake Gaston Lions Club Seafood Festival. These seasoned veterans brought along an oversized wagon with all the necessary comfort items for the day. Items included box top lids (to hold their food boats), tables of all types, tent shelters, umbrellas and other items to make life easier for the afternoon. Picture right (l-r) The Truelove’s – Michael, Glenda, Jane and Kenith; the Gulley’s – Sue and Bruce; and the Curl’s – Brenda and Emitt. They consider themselves professional party goers. Pictured far right: Holding a place in line is their wagon.
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At 12:30 p.m. the line was long for the Seafood goers. They stood in line waiting for miracle hour - 1 p.m. when the gates would open. The closer it got to 1 p.m. the longer the line got. Tents, chairs, folding tables, tarps, TV tables, umbrellas, and tarps were the standard items for this event. People stood in line with one or all of these items. Seafood staff members started handing out safety pins to use to pin your ticket to your clothes and wrist bands for those who were over twenty one. Pictured at right. If you close you'll see box lids, tables, chairs etc for making an afternoon of it at the Festival.
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The Lions Seafood Staff made it easy for everyone to enjoy them selves. They had safety pins to secure your tickets to your clothes and arm bands for those who could legally drink. When the gates opened at 1 p.m. the race towards the bandstand area was on. Finding the best spot was the goal. Considering they were not allowed to bring in any food or drink, the group to the immediate right had a typical load of comfort items. The far right photo shows one type of tent shelter being constructed.
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| Some tents were easier to set up than others. This one took only minutes to get up and ready to use. |
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The first thing we noticed was a group that had identical colored T-shirts on. Jessica Vaughn, from Bealeton, VA, informed us they were part of the Tom and Anne O’Neil group. This was 4th or 5th year at the event and according to Vaughan they had decided that the easiest way to track one another was to get the most “obnoxious colored shirts and theme they could.” The fronts of the shirts were imprinted with, “Lake Gaston Hillbillies” the back of the shirts had “We loaded up the truck and went to the Sea ..Food Festival that is” on them. We watched as more and more of the group members arrived. We were told there would be twenty-five of them, it looked more seventy-five to me.
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John and Kellie Jones from Virginia Beach, with their ten month old daughter Jordan were trying to find some friends at festival. After a couple minutes on the cell phone they found out their friends were just a few yards away.
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The Lions set up several tents for those who wanted to stay out of the weather. Friday night’s storms knocked several tents over, but the staff had them up and ready to use by opening. In the for ground on the left is Lily Atkinson (of the Lake Gaston Aqua Babes) who was their with her husband Roger. The photo to the right was taken about 1:45 p.m., as soon as people realized that the food was about ready to be served, the tent emptied out quickly (far right photo).
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The Lake Gaston Lions Club Seafood Festival is an all-you-can-eat affair. The menu included Steamed Shrimp, Steamed and Fresh Oysters (from Louisiana), Deep Fried Trout (it was rumored to be the best ever), baked beans, cole slaw and hush puppies plus all you favorite beverages.
The event is held each October and is the major fund-raiser for the Lake Gaston Lions Club. Over the last twenty-three years the club has provided more than $200,000 in financial assistance to area organizations.
The primary areas in which they serve are: blind and sight services, deaf and hearing services, social education and health services, boy and girls hoes, community, county, state and international services, and Camp Dogwood (for the blind).
Pictured clock wise from the top left are the oyster bars, shrimp house and fish house.
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