Highlights from 2010's Festival

May 2010 saw the first ever Crab and Lobster Festival on the fabulous North Norfolk Coast. Three wonderful days and nights united the two rival fishing towns for a fantastic fun-filled series of events.

Our First Festival Featured free concerts, exhibitions, an ale trail, crustacean crawl and auction, mobile kitchen demonstrations, street entertainers, dance, music, and film events, crabbing competitions . . . and very much more.

Over 30,000 visitors came to the two day event and auction. Over £60,000 worth of media coverage across papers, radio, magazines, websites and TV news was achieved. We raised £9,000 for charity

Art Sculpture trail

In the run up to the 2010 festival weekend local shops, pubs, businesses, organisations and individuals sponsored eighty two 3ft and 6ft crabs and lobsters on the Crustacea Crawl Sculpture Trail.

Sponsors invited local artists, groups and children to decorate the sculptures in imaginative and individual ways.

The sculptures were placed at key locations around the two towns and the public were invited to take up the Crustacea Crawl Sculpture Trail to find all the sculptures on the trail and enter a competition to win a holiday for four.

Live Demonstration Kitchen

Jointly sponsored by Waitrose and M&S, Mark David of The Cooking Experience hosted two full days of culinary creativity.

Using local produce our audience was shown by Young's Seafood how to correctly prepare shellfish and our local chefs demonstrated the numerous ways it can be used to create mouth watering dishes.

Our local Michelin and TV chefs lined up to take a turn in the kitchen. Galton Blackiston from Morston Hall and Chris Coubrough from The Crown in Wells were the star turns. They were supported by a huge number of local chefs from the very best of dining out in North Norfolk.

Music

Over 490 folk flocked to enjoy a Sheringham and Cromer "first" as the two groups of rival shanty singers The Sheringham Shantymen and The Cromer Smugglers joined forces for the launch of the festival at the Cromer Pier theatre. Hosted jointly by our town mayors and local wits Keith Skipper and Sid Kipper a fantastic evening was enjoyed by all and raised over £1800 in a collection for our 2010 festival charities.

The music started early and continued until late into the evening at several venues across the towns. From the church concert by the London Sinfonia to the ever popular Red Oktober there was something for everyone to enjoy.

Exhibitions and Shows

The Norfolk art community flourishes in our two towns and came together to produce a number of exhibitions, film shows, art projects and events.

From contemporary art, to children's craft experiences there was something for all the family to enjoy. The North Norfolk Film Forum worked for months to produce the "First Cut" of a series of two minute movies which were shown alongside Attack of the Crab Monsters an old kitsch classic.

Our talented mural artists left their mark on the walls of our towns with gigantic images of crustacea.

Crowd Pleasers For All Ages

From the hysterical performing duo "The Cheesey Riders" to our stilt-walking juggler, we invited a whole cacophony of entertainers out onto our streets. The crowds watched Morris Dancers, singers, costume characters, performers and bands throughout the weekend.

Kingswood built their famous climbing wall and challenged our youngsters to get to the top! Local dance classes held taster sessions for everything from hip hop to jive fusion. Children's storytelling and craft workshops were held at the museums and in the libraries.

Local Industry

Our fishing community came together to give demonstrations on the art of crab and lobster pot making, using skills that have been passed down through generations. The ladies showed how to knit the Gansey jumpers that are traditionally worn by the boatmen. There are special patterns used exclusively in each town.

First World Pier Crabbing Championship

There was a magnificent turn out for the crabbing competition held along the Pier in Cromer. Hosted by Tony Shipp, a crabbing veteran, it was an enormous success with over 80 entrants taking part and hundreds of supporters.

2010 Video Highlights

A look back at some of the fantastic moments from the 2010 festival