Sequim Gazette staff

The Galloping Gourmet will once again be galloping across the peninsula with a planned stop at the 12th Annual Dungeness Crab & Seafood Festival.

Graham Kerr, one of TV’s first celebrity chefs, will officially open the festival at 11 a.m. Saturday morning.

Kerr also will prepare his favorite crab cakes, talk about his “world view” of food, and will have books for sale and a signing at 2:30 p.m.

He also will serve as the celebrity judge of the festival’s first-ever chowder cook-off on Sunday from 1-2 p.m.

The cook-off, a fundraising effort for the Captain Joseph House Foundation, will provide festival-goers with a chance to sample chowders prepared by both amateur and professional cooks. In addition to Kerr’s selection, festival-goers will help choose the winner of the People’s Choice Award.

Under the big top

Organizers say the Crab Central Tent will feature a number of new features, beginning with extended hours. It will be open until 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday nights, with music continuing until 9:15 p.m.

In addition:

• The PDN Community Crab Feed, which features $5 off on all dinners, will be open on Friday to accommodate the crowds who arrive early.

• Taylor Shellfish will operate a raw oyster bar in the bar area, with Washington’s best oysters shucked to order all weekend.

• A second small bar will be located by the main entrance to relieve overcrowding at the main bar.

• The crab shell composting program is expanding, with compost buckets on the tables. For the past two years all of the shells from cleaning and cooking crabs have been trucked to Lazy J Tree Farm for composting.

• The menu is expanding with new dishes and presentations, including new vegetarian items.

• Wine glasses imprinted with the festival logo are for sale.

• All of the food booths in the tent will take credit cards and the Canadian Interac card.

See www.crabfestival.org.