Original Lobster Festival makes its Fountain Valley debut
When last week began, Southern California was mired in a heatwave that likely had many looking forward to seafood and libations as an option to fight the sweltering temperatures.
As the weekend approached, inclement weather rolled in, impacting the turnout at the 26th annual Original Lobster Festival, which was being held for the first time at Mile Square Park in Fountain Valley.
Rob Frizzelle, the director of community services for Fountain Valley, said the Original Lobster Festival was part of a three-part special event series designed to get the community back together following the coronavirus pandemic. The Crawfish Festival and the BBQ Music Festival were also elements of that series.
“We’re obviously well aware there’s still issues out there,” Frizzelle said. “We want to make sure that everybody enjoys and recreates and engages socially in a safe manner, but at the same time, what we lost so much of during the pandemic was that social engagement — coming out to the parks and coming out to special events.
“You can see that people want to be out there. This specific event was kind of tough. Not too often do we get hit with tropical storms from south of the border that impact us here in Fountain Valley.”
Frizzelle, who added that the festival experienced a good day on Sunday, said most of the attendees came from Orange and Los Angeles counties.
The area saw a persistent downpour on Friday and scattered showers the next day, although attendees enjoyed a pleasant evening on Saturday night.
A karaoke station served as a main attraction, as those who dared to show off their pipes had live musicians playing behind them.
Davon Velasquez of Compton attended the festival with a group of about a dozen friends, and he took the stage with his friend, Maurice Cunningham, for a duet performance of Montell Jordan’s “This Is How We Do It.”
The duo sounded good, too. Their voices provided a soundtrack to the onstage dancing of Velasquez’s 2-year-old son Dominic.
Velasquez, who said he had gone to the festival a few times when it was held in Long Beach, said he has “never been shy about karaoke,” and he was proud to represent his community.
“We go to the same church — Faith Inspirational Missionary Baptist Church in Compton — where we really specialize in taking back the city and turning the city around for the greater good,” Velasquez said in speaking about his partner on vocals. “When people think of Compton, they think of violence.
“When we think of Compton, we think of home, and we think of love and family and entertainment. Compton is actually one of the most entertaining cities. There’s so much talent that comes out of Compton.”
Festivalgoers found it hard to pass up the Maine lobster dinner, and a number of vendors were on hand to offer patrons their own twist on creations such as lobster rolls, bisque and macaroni-and-cheese.
The vendors included local fish and lobster house Hook & Anchor, a Newport Beach establishment. Chef Wayne Magnusen, who started the restaurant with his wife, said the business has fresh lobster meat flown in twice a week.
“We started as a catering company about seven years ago doing festivals, doing large events, and this is one of the first ones that we did that was profitable,” Magnusen said. “We love serving seafood, we love anything seafood-related, and lobster is one of our favorite things to serve, favorite things to eat, and it’s a specialty item that people should incorporate more into their day-to-day lives.”
At the end of Saturday, Magnusen said he felt the rain had been a deterrent to the public, resulting in a 30% to 40% drop in sales.
“I think it’s all due to the weather,” Magnusen said. “It’s obviously the first year that this event is here, and I think hopefully it’ll start to build some traction and more of the local community will come out.”
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