The Crab Derby in Crisfield

Everyone is in place, waiting. Money and honor are on the line. The gate comes up. Bang! They're off! 

     They are crabs; Chesapeake blue crabs to be specific. A crab race? Really? Yes.
     In 1947, the town of Crisfield decided to host a hard crab race outside of their post office as part of a summer Fishing Fair, highlighting their seafood bounty. In Maryland, summer is synonymous with eating blue crabs out on a deck by the water, and Crisfield, located on Eastern Shore between the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, is a town that revolves around watermen and fishing culture. 
     I came across these great clips from WMAR-TV's coverage of the 6th annual crab race via the University of Baltimore's archives, which got me to look into the history of the event a little more. 

"These beautiful blue-green crustaceans grow in the Chesapeake Bay and are just as moody as a mule. Sometimes they go and sometimes they don't..." -- The Star Democrat, July 28, 1950. 

The Salisbury Daily Times front page from September 2, 1957 featuring the gunshot start to the crab race.

     The first year was such a success that the event grew and grew. In 1952, a local newspaper in Easton, Maryland wrote: "About fifty hard-shelled hotrods from the waters of the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays... are expected to cram the starting cage at Crisfield's famed Crab Cake Course. The spirited crustaceans will have their claws set for the coveted American Legion winner's trophy as well as a place in crab racing's Hall of Fame." There might have been some tongue-in-cheek excitement about crabs running frantically without much sense of where they were going, but the event was popular.
     Each year brought more and more entries, and then, the event became the National Crab Derby and featured a "Governor's Cup" race, where the Governor of Maryland asked other states to send crabs to race.     

Maryland Governor Spiro Agnew holds a winning Hawaiian sand-fiddler crab; The Salisbury Daily Times, September 4th, 1967.

     Eventually, the crab race committee built a real race-track, complete with starting pens and a gate that was let down to start the race (below). 

The Salisburg Daily Times, August 26, 1967.

The best part? The Crab Derby still happens every year, with bleachers full of people cheering the little crustaceans on!