Noyo Harbor’s annual World’s Largest Salmon Barbecue is sprucing up with more musicians and added parking

FORT BRAGG, Calif., 7/3/24 — Noyo Harbor’s 53rd Annual World’s Largest Salmon Barbecue this Saturday will feature more local musicians, a new wine provider and the return of corn. Clear skies are forecast for the fireworks above Noyo River Bridge that follow the BBQ festivities.

Last July, high prices for fresh sweet corn necessitated a switch to potatoes. This year, after popular demand, corn will be back on the plates, said Michael Miller, executive director of the Salmon Restoration Association (SRA), the nonprofit that runs the event. Proceeds benefit salmon restoration causes.

Held at Grader Park in south Noyo Harbor on the first Saturday of July, the annual event runs from 11 a.m to 6 p.m, with live music all day. Each $35 ticket nets a huge plate of salad, corn, garlic bread and, of course, salmon. Ticket prices have remained the same for several years, Miller said. Ticket sales were about 2,500 last year, said Miller, with online sales a bit ahead of where they were last year. Because there is no entrance fee to the park, many people come to listen or dance to music or hang with friends.

Besides the return of corn, another change is that a new parking area has been arranged. The old Georgia Pacific airport runway on Noyo Headlands State Park will be opened up for salmon barbecue parking, Miller said.

This year, Hopland-based Bonterra Organic Vineyards will provide and pour all the wine, Miller said. Thanksgiving Coffee, whose headquarters is across from Grader Park, provides free coffee. North Coast Brewing employees will serve beer and donate the proceeds. Another always popular local favorite is the homemade Cowlicks ice cream.

Commercial fishermen and their organizations started the barbecue in the 1970s as part of an effort towards habitat restoration for the fish. Fishing organizations  are no longer involved, nor are most fishermen. The event has been passed to local businesses and clubs like Fort Bragg Rotary. The boastful name has always been part of the jovial nature of the event. So far, nobody has stepped forward to claim their niche of the world hosts a larger salmon barbecue.

Those involved in the Salmon Barbecue also have a sense of humor about two burning questions: Why are we eating salmon to save salmon, especially with the entire salmon fishery closed in California? Why is the salmon from Alaska?

Miller points out that the second question answers the first. “We don’t buy salmon from California,” he said.  

Miller said the salmon used is purchased locally through Noyo Harbor’s Caito Fisheries (which was recently acquired by a large fish processing corporation). Caito Fisheries has told the SRA that they get the best price they can. This year the salmon is Coho salmon from Alaska. All salmon served at the event is wild-caught, not  from farms. Miller said that Coho salmon comes from sustainable stocks and is stamped and tagged. While there are many types of salmon in Alaska, only three are normally tasty when cooked fresh: Chinook, or king salmon, Coho or silver salmon, and Sockeye or red salmon.

Coho fishing has not been allowed for many years in California, and Coho, the native salmon of rivers and streams that flow to sea from the Mendocino, Sonoma, and Humboldt county coasts, are the focus of the SRA. Chinook salmon favor larger rivers and compose the fishing stocks from the Sacramento River system and the Klamath River. Both Chinook and Coho salmon are found in most rivers. 

Chinook salmon fishing has been canceled in California for two years due to low returns from the ocean during the drought years. Salmon take two to three years to return to their spawning rivers from the ocean.

Celebrity chefs and new bands

The job of actually cooking the salmon is prestigious, and people rarely give up their spot on the barbecue. Local politicians and business leaders are among the chefs. Every year, Congressman Jared Huffman makes the trip to be one of the celebrity chefs. Miller said Huffman is expected to cook in 2024.

Rick Sacks, a former commercial fisherman and longtime local businessman, has been one of the cooks since at least 1977. Sacks came up with a T-shirt he hopes will answer those persistent questions about restoration. It reads, “we restore them, they restore us.”

Live entertainment will include six bands this year, all seasoned local groups that have performed for many years. Performers include Latchkey and LauraLee Brown. Miller said newer acts will get a chance this year for “20 minutes of fame” between sets of the established bands.

The World’s Largest Salmon Barbecue is distinctly a Fort Bragg event, celebrating the town’s second most important historical industry. Paul Bunyan Days, held on Labor Day weekend, pays tribute to the timber industry that established Fort Bragg and is the biggest and oldest local celebration.

Tickets for the barbecue can be purchased here.

For those who miss this Saturday’s feast, the Mendocino Coast’s second largest barbecue is the following weekend. The 61st annual Albion-Little River Fire Auxiliary barbecue will be on Saturday, July 13 at Albion-Little River Fire Station 812, 43100 Little River Airport Rd. in Little River from noon to 5 p.om.

The post Noyo Harbor’s annual World’s Largest Salmon Barbecue is sprucing up with more musicians and added parking appeared first on The Mendocino Voice | Mendocino County, CA.