It”s easy to spot the Lunde clan every year at the World”s Largest Salmon Barbecue.
Just look for lots of red, white and blue.
About a dozen family members, all wearing patriotic gear such as Uncle Sam hats beneath their towering American flag, enjoyed an annual family tradition Saturday that was started 15 years ago by the late George Lunde. The clan came from broiling and smoky Redding, from cool and foggy San Francisco, and from lots of spots around wildfire-plagued California.
“We love the salmon and the event, and this is the family reunion for the Lundes,” said Claire Hoffman of Redding.
With so many in-laws and married Lundes along for the ride, there were few with the actual surname name, producing laughs from the jovial clan who covered two picnic tables with their tablecloths and hoisted a towering stars and stripes. Others sported flags too, but the Lundes claim they were first.
Return customers from hotter places in California have always filled South Noyo Harbor for the annual event. Despite fears that record high gas prices would keep crowds away, 2,721 tickets were sold, Salmon Restoration Association President Joe Janisch reported.
That”s off about 300 tickets from last year”s attendance, but among the best crowds over the past five years. With tickets selling for $25 instead of $20, revenue was up. But in the worst year ever for salmon fishing, so was the cost of salmon, which was coho from Alaska this year.
Some people liked the silver salmon better than the king of past years, but most preferred the king salmon. Silver (coho) and king (chinook) are the two top-of-the-line fish, but kings are bigger and have usually been featured. With no fishing this year in California, the SRA bought coho at a higher price than is usually paid for chinook.
The Salmon Restoration Association”s historic method of simply counting ticket sales gives no indication of total attendance. Hot dogs are sold without tickets and this year hot dogs sold out, Janisch said.
Also, anyone is allowed on the grounds without any requirement for a ticket and large groups often feature multiple people who are only drinking and dancing, not eating dinner. These people are not counted.
A big highlight was the sales of beer and wine. The Fort Bragg Lions Club took on the dual duty of selling beer donated by North Coast Brewing and wine from local wineries. Both were huge successes.
Janisch reported revenue from the sales of beer and wine were up $1,000 over last year.
Another big plus was recycling. Tony “The Mike” Anderson, who announces local sporting events, went through all the trash at the end of the day and removed recyclables. The SRA offers both recycling and regular trash cans, but many people throw cans and bottles into the regular trash. Anderson, a dependable volunteer each year for SRA, moved from the pleasantries of food preparation to the grungy trash duty this year.
Unfortunately, the revenues from the t-shirt booth were off nearly as much as the beer and wine were up, Janisch reported.
The oddity of this year”s event was how slow it started. At first it appeared that hardly anybody was coming. The crowds hit in force about 1 p.m. when the line began to lengthen and charter buses arrived. By 3 p.m. the grounds were packed with people standing to eat and filling all the hay bale seats provided by Highway 20 Feed. The dancing area was packed, and the bands got big applause. The Steven Bates Band, the last of three acts to take the stage, had a hard time ending the show for a crowd who seemed to love the rare experience of a genuine mob scene in Fort Bragg. They clearly wanted more.
As always, the event was an effort of the entire community. The Knights of Columbus served coffee provided by Thanksgiving Coffee. The Fort Bragg Rotary Club shucked and served corn, while the Soroptimist served garlic bread. Harvest Market donated many of the supplies. Harvest employee Bruce Rogers worked at the event all day.
New this year was a raw, vegan alternative provided by the Living Light Institute. When not as many people as expected chose the vegan alternative, the crew from Living Light gave out free samples, which were very popular.
Suellen Elm, who worked in the t-shirt booth, loved the vegan entree.
“I actually thought it was better even than the salmon,” she said.”
Claire Hoffman, among the Lundes, tried the Living Light entry and liked it. But it won”t replace salmon for them.
However, some said they came to the event for the first time because there was an alternative main dish. Others thought the alternative was a bit spicy. The SRA felt Living Light”s participation was a success and opened the event to some people who have been excluded. The SRA plans to have them back next year.
“We are happy we could support the Salmon Restoration Association in helping save the salmon,” said Dan Ladermann, an owner of Living Light.
“Our Save the Salmon Cutlet with horseradish dill tarter sauce and sweet chili drizzle” was a hit for those who came for the vegan option and for the hundreds of salmon eaters who sampled what we were offering. Many said they would have the non-salmon alternative next year,” Ladermann said.
While the event provides a gigantic economic boost to the entire community, the participation of commercial fishermen is at a low ebb, something the SRA hopes to change in the coming year. Commercial fishermen started the event during a time when they were seeking ways to keep the salmon population healthy.
A bright spot for the fishing community was the participation of Lori French, who is seeking to photograph as many California fishermen as possible.
She got some subjects for her “Faces of California Fishermen” photojournalism project.
“I made some great contacts and renewed some old friendships … I did run out of pens, so I consider that a good sign,” French said. “The entire thing is just to get the word out that commercial fishermen are important to the coast.”
“I also had the chance to meet and thank Congressman Thompson,” French added. “That was fantastic.”
Mike Thompson, the Democrat from St. Helena who represents the Mendocino Coast, has long been recognized as a leader in Congress for issues related to the wine and fishing industries.
Thompson was among the celebrity chefs organized by Fort Bragg City Councilman Jere Melo. Ten Mile Court Judge Jonathan Lehan and Sheriff Tom Allman also cooked most of the day.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security offered tours of the Coast Guard base adjacent to the barbecue grounds.
A survey of the crowd at the 37th annual World”s Largest Salmon Barbecue found more locals than ever, but still an overwhelming majority of visitors. They filled up every local motel and many campground spaces.
A survey of 50 groups found that the Santa Rosa area was the winner this year over Sacramento, which was the greatest contributor of guests in similar surveys over the last two years.
The survey turned up a few exotics such as a French-speaking couple and a group from London, who had planned their San Francisco vacation to include a day trip to Fort Bragg. They were horrified by the miles of curves but mollified considerably by the day of music, wine, beer and salmon.
“It is stunningly beautiful here and this is a fantastic event. But we probably would not have put this into our vacation calendar had we known how far it was from San Francisco, and how awfully winding the roads are, especially with the smoke,” said Richard Kinsley, who lives in a London suburb.
Among the 50 people surveyed, there were more than ever who attended for the first time. The majority of these visitors came to escape the smoke of hundreds of lightning-spawned fires that started across the state June 21. Their chief complaint was that the event was not well-advertised, with not enough SRA signs, and with news articles all assuming everybody knew where South Noyo Harbor was.
“We always have a tremendous number of the repeat customers,” said Janisch. “This year I think the smoke chased a lot of people away from home who might not have been to the World”s Largest Salmon Barbecue before.”
