PORT ANGELES — Organizers of the 14th annual Dungeness Crab & Seafood Festival are hoping the loss of one headline chef will open the door to others.
Well-known television chef Graham Kerr, 81, known for his “Galloping Gourmet” show in the 1970s, announced last week that he must bow out of the annual festival at City Pier in Port Angeles, which is scheduled for Oct. 9-11.
Kerr has been a part of the Crab Fest for six years, said organizer Scott Nagel, but there is an illness in the famed television chef’s family, and he probably will not participate this year.
In his online blog at www.grahamkerr.com, Kerr said his wife is ill and “in the midst of a great deal of loving care.”
Kerr first joined the Crab Fest to take part in food demonstrations and book signings.
Nagel credits the master chef and his wife, Treena, for bringing boatloads of Canadian visitors — many of whom remember his Canada-based show — to Port Angeles for the festival.
In past years, the Mount Vernon personality has served as unofficial host for Olympic Peninsula chefs, Nagel said.
He also has served as a judge in the Chowder Cook-Off, which benefits the Captain Joseph House Foundation in Port Angeles.
Other chefs
One of Nagel’s main duties last week was not only rearranging the schedule since learning about Kerr, but also making space for Peninsula chefs.
“We have really good regional chefs,” said Nagel, who said he is pleased the Crab Fest is a mechanism for introducing them to Port Angeles — and vice versa.
Chefs from all over the Olympic Peninsula have been booked to Crab Fest by Steve Shively, a founder of the Olympic Culinary Loop group of restaurants.
Introducing these chefs to Port Angeles, he added, “brings prestige and credibility” to not just the town, but the greater Olympic Peninsula.
Nagel reported that Kerr had planned to make this year’s Crab Fest his last big event before retirement as well as to unveil his new book of memoirs.
“We were really honored he would do that,” Nagel said.
The festival organizer said he hopes Kerr will be back in future years.
For his part, Kerr said in a statement that he sends his apologies and asks for the community’s prayers.
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Reporter Mark Swanson can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5054, or mswanson@peninsuladailynews.com.
