Hard Crab Derby
NATIONAL HARD CRAB DERBY
Labor Day Weekend
Somers Cove Marina
Crisfield's National Hard Crab Derby is an annual Labor Day weekend event. The unique crab themed festival features crab races, crab cooking and picking contests, arts and crafts, vendors, live entertainment, beauty pageants, a parade, fireworks and more.
2021 CRAB DERBY SCHEDULE
Friday, August 27th
Little Miss/Little Mr. Pageant
Somers Cove Marina
Admission $
Thursday, Sept. 2nd
7:00 pm
Miss Crustacean Pageant
Somers Cove Marina
Admission $
Friday, Sept. 3rd
Somerset Technical High School,
Westover, MD
Admission Free
Saturday, Sept. 4th
City Dock
9:00 am
Lions Club Swim Meet
Somers Cove Marina Pool
Admission Free
9:30 a.m. Crabs go on sale for races!
Somers Cove Marina
11:00 am
Crab Derby Parade
Starting @
Library Collins & Maryland Avenue
Admission Free
12:30 pm
Skiff Races
Wellington Beach Free
1:00 pm
Crab Picking Contest
Crab Bowl
2:30 pm
71st Annual Governor's Cup Race
Crab Bowl
National Hard Crab Derby Race
immediately following Governor's Cup Race
Crab Bowl
7:00 pm
Ms. Crab Claw
Local Band following Crab Claw
Sunday, September 5
8:00 am
Open Air Religious Service
Crisfield City Dock
Admission Free
12 noon - 4:00 pm
Crisfield City Dock
General Admission $15
5:30 pm
Beer & Wine Garden
Corn Hole Competition
Tug-O-War
Somers Cove Marina
7:00 pm - 10 pm
Live Band - Groovalicious
Somers Cove Marina
9:00 pm
Fireworks
Today crabs are brought to Crisfield from all over the Chesapeake Bay region and are raced at Somers Cove Marina on a slick, flat track in view of hundreds of spectators. Fifty live crabs at a time are launched from the wooden "crab cake track" onto a wet flat surface pitched at an angle. The first crabs off the surface are the winners of that heat. Heat winners continue to compete. The highlight of the race is...
CRAB DERBY
by Mindie Burgoyne
Every Labor Day weekend, people from all over the Mid-Atlantic region visit Maryland's southernmost town to see some 400 blue crabs compete in one of the most celebrated crustacean events in America, the National Hard Crab Derby. Sixty-four years ago, watermen brought their feistiest live crabs to race in the street in front of the post office.
