Corrected version: Blackberry Cafe will give away one pie only at 3 p.m. Saturday.
JOYCE — Wild blackberries, in all their summer gastronomic glory, will be celebrated at the 30th annual Joyce Daze Wild Blackberry Festival on Saturday.
The all-day event takes over this small community about 16 miles west of Port Angeles with a parade, salmon bake, blackberry pie contest and about 60 vendors along state Highway 112 around the Joyce General Store, Joyce Depot Museum, Joyce mini-mall and Family Kitchen restaurant.
“It draws the whole community together,” said Ed McKay, chairman of the festival.
“Everybody is very positive, very friendly. Vendors always say, ‘I’m coming back.’”
At the center of the festival is the sale of slices of homemade blackberry pies and the pie contest, which often showcases more than two dozen confections.
Three judges will gather at the Joyce Depot Museum at 11 a.m. to taste homemade blackberry pies in the contest, sponsored by Peninsula Daily News.
Pies for the tasting competition can be dropped off there between 9 a.m. and 10:45 a.m.
The only requirement is that pies must be made from the small, wild blackberries found in the Joyce area.
Prizes are in Port Angeles Downtown Dollars (useable like cash at downtown businesses) — $50 for first place, $25 for second place and $25 for third place.
Slices of homemade pies will be on sale at the Joyce Depot Museum.
“They are making 200 pies, and it will be pies and/or pie and ice cream,” McKay said.
No beard and mustache contest is scheduled this year, McKay.
The organizer of the popular contest for the best facial hair moved, and no one could pick it up, he said.
Pancake breakfast
The festival will begin with a pancake breakfast at the Crescent Grange, 50734 state Highway 112, from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Breakfast costs $4 for adults and $2 for children.
Joyce Daze royalty — Queen Bonny Hazelett and Princesses Tori McGowan and Lauren Hartley — will be among those who serve at the breakfast.
Floats, antique cars, trucks and tractors, and other entries in the parade will flow down Highway 112 beginning at 1 p.m.
The parade route, on the highway between the Joyce Depot Museum and Wye Road, will be closed to traffic between 12:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m.
A detour will be available.
“The west end starts at the Crescent School, and it comes out east of the Joyce Depot Museum,” McKay said.
The Crescent Bay Lions Club salmon bake runs from 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Joyce minimart, and family games are from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Family Kitchen.
Vendors will be available all day beginning at 9 a.m. next to the Joyce General Store.
Music and other entertainment will flow off the Joyce Depot Museum stage beginning at 10 a.m.
The Joyce Fire Department and the Lower Elwha Klallam Police Department will offer equipment demonstrations, free blood-pressure checks and refreshments from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the mini-mall.
Joyce-area businesses will participate with extended hours and specials.
Salt Creek Restaurant
Among them are the Salt Creek Restaurant and Lounge on state Highway 112 at Camp Hayden Road just east of Joyce.
Restaurant owner Nikki Beverford plans music, lunch and dinner specials, and wild blackberry pies and cobblers in honor of Joyce Daze.
Salt Creek Restaurant will open early at 9 a.m. Saturday and remain open until 2 a.m. Sunday.
Live music, performed by the Cruzin’ Bluzers, will begin at 4 p.m., with no cover charge.
At 8 p.m., DJ Lumpy — also known as Phil Lomiker — will take center stage.
Another business, the Blackberry Cafe at 53530 state Highway 112 in Joyce, will give away cafe T-shirts every hour until 3 p.m. Saturday — and a blackberry pie at 3 p.m.
Blackberry Cafe will be open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. for Joyce Daze.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
