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roakerfest turns 30 this year, and as has become tradition, the event named for a croaking fish will feature a parade, relay race, regatta, a Miss Croaker pageant, food and music.

The thirtieth anniversary design for Croakerfest t-shirts was developed by 16-year-old Robin Holde. As with many Croakerfest designs, it combines two of Oriental’s icons: the dragon and the croaker.

Croakerfest owes its existance to the Oriental Junior Woman’s Club, which in 1980, was trying to figure a way to raise money to give to various charities in town.

Oriental already celebrated the Fourth of July with a parade, food and dancing among other events. Working from that foundation, the Junior Women’s Club decided to make it a festival.

An early Croakerfest T-Shirt.

But what to call it? Linda Caroon was one of the members in 1980 and says they found that “everything else was already taken.” There couldn’t be, for example, a strawberry festival because that was happening elsewhere. Bayboro at that time had laid claim to a Potato Festival.

Since Oriental was a fishing community, Linda Caroon says they sought a fish name. But even there, there may have been slim pickings. One fish not already attached to a festival was the croaker.

A program from a Croakerfest in the early 1980’s offers a qualified tribute to the Croaker.

“I know croakers are not available this time of year,” Caroon says, noting that the grumbly fish don’t appear in local waters til “a little bit later” in the season. Despite the lack of a significant croaker harvest in early July, CroakerFest it became, and the croaker shared stage with the dragon as symbols of Oriental.

The first Croaker Festival in 1980 was a three day affair. There was a parade. And fireworks. And raft races. Thirty years later, the oddly-named festival has become tradition.

Programs from previous Croaker Festivals. These are part of an Oriental History Museum display celebrating 30 years of Croakerfest.

As for the Oriental Junior Woman’s Club, its members later became, Ladies of the Neuse, which for years has done the judging and handed out the honors in the Croaker Festival Parade. This year however, 10 of the original Junior Women’s Club/Ladies of the Neuse will be in the parade, as the grand marshals.

Sally Belangia, one of the original Oriental Junior Woman’s Club members who started Croakerfest in 1980. She and 9 others from the group will be grand marshals in this year’s parade. (The Sally replica will be on the First Citizens Bank float that Sally, the bank’s manager, usually rides in.)

The Croakerfest originators this year revived one part of the early festivals: fish hats. In the early days of the festival, the croakers, extending over both sides of the wearer’s head, were made of paper. In time canvas was used. But in recent years few of them were seen. That may be changing this year. The Ladies of the Neuse created a limited run of 42, says Sally Belangia, who was selling them at First Citizens Bank. The $20 per hat goes to charity. The other day they were down to only a half dozen.

A limited run of Croaker hats was selling out fast at First Citizens Bank.

While the Oriental Junior Woman’s Club started the Croakerfest, over time, others have taken on the operation. Candy Bohmert has been the Chief Croaker Organizer for most of the past decade. This year, Rich Wertin and Candy Bohmert are co-organizers of the event.

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Thirty is the theme of Croakerfest Parade. The Parade Meister, Paul Fairbank says the thirty theme may be broadly interpreted and he’s welcoming all and any participants in this year’s parade. At “Parade Central” (Village Hardware) the registration has been moving slowly so far.

Parade Meister Paul Fairbank considers fish puppet theater as a diversion, but what he’d really like is more registrants for this year’s Croaker Festival parade. .

Fairbank says the hot weather may have given parade participants pause, but he points out that the forecast for 10am Saturday calls for relatively cooler (only mid-80’s) weather and less humidity. He’s got a clipboard ready and waiting at Village Hardware. Or you can call him at 249-0023.

Turtle Midyette has sixty croaker batons ready for Saturday’s 8am Croaker Relay, which might be billed as ‘the most fun you can have with an open fire hydrant while shouting “Eat More Croaker.”’ It’s a 4×1 mile relay that you can do on foot, bike, roller blades. The race wends its way from Lupton Park (the one with the playground) down Factory and towards the waterfront and then back.

Croaker Batons await their trips around town during the Croaker Relay before being tossed in some manner in the ultimate Croaker Relay competition. Sixty batons were made for this year’s event. For the moment they are stacked and waiting to go. After the relay, they become cherished mementos.

As in other years, the winner is decided not by the first team to finish the laps, but in a competition that involves, in some manner, the tossing of the plywood croaker baton. (It remains a secret til Saturday morning…)

The run starts at 8a from Lupton Park. Even if you don’t run, come on by and take in the quintessential spirit of Croakerfest.

Turtle Midyette takes the 2010 Croaker Baton out for a test run.

Saturday afternoon, the Croaker Festival Regatta takes place near the bridge, which provides a good vantage point for watching the Optimist class and Sunfish sailboats go around the marks. That starts at 2p. Registration’s in the morning.

A vintage Croaker Festival T-shirt from 1985.

Meanwhile, on land, there’s lots of food and entertainment and booths near Lou Mac Park. Many of those booths are run by local non-profit organizations, and in keeping with the original idea behind Croaker Festival, the event does help raise funds for the charities’ projects.

Saturday’s fireworks display starts at 9:30p, so long as the skies are clear and there’s no rain. The fireworks go off near Teach’s Point. Many people — many more than you thought would fit in Oriental — take this in from the bridge, but you can get good views along the harbor and the creeks, too. Or as many do, from a boat. This year, many of the fireworks were paid for by individual donations.

Get a glimpse of Oriental over thirty years of Croakerfest. A new display at the Oriental History Museum features t-shirt designs, programs and parade awards from Croakerfests past.

While Saturday has the big events, Croakerfest actually begins late Friday afternoon with performances by the Pamlico Chorale and the Pamlico Community Band. A number of contests are underway then too, from the baked goods judging to the Croaker Queen pagaent (and the Minnow Pageant as well.)

Meanwhile, the Oriental History Museum has a display about the Thirty Years of Croakerfest, with some T-shirt and dragon designs and programs from the festival’s 30 year history.

For more info about the events of Croakerfest, see, What’s Happening.

An idea ready for revival? From the archives at the Oriental History Museum, a newspaper photo from a July Fourth celebration in the late 1970’s, pre-Croaker Festival.

Posted Tuesday June 29, 2010 by Melinda Penkava