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, carnival rides, arts and crafts, vendors, live entertainment, beauty pageants, a parade, fireworks and more.
The festival begins Wednesday evening with a carnival, runs through the weekend and ends Sunday night with a Gospel concert and fireworks. Many events are free. There is a $5 admission fee on Saturday.
2020 CRAB DERBY SCHEDULE
Thursday, Sept. 3rd
Little Miss/Little Mr. Pageant
Somers Cove Marina
Friday, Sept 4th
7:00 pm
Miss Crustacean Pageant
Somers Cove Marina
Friday, Sept. 4th
Somerset Intermediate School,
Westover, MD
Admission Free
Saturday, Sept. 5th
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
CANCELED
12:30 pm
Skiff Races
Wellington Beach Free
12:30 pm
Crab Picking Contest
Crab Bowl
2:00 pm
71st Annual Governor's Cup Race
Crab Bowl
National Hard Crab Derby Race
immediately following Governor's Cup Race
Crab Bowl
Sunday, September 6
12:00 pm - 4:00 pm
CANCELED DUE TO COVID-19
9:00 pm
Fireworks
Crab Bowl
Admission Free
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.
