Lobster festival scheduled in Santa Barbara ahead of spiny lobster season

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- The Spiny Lobster Festival is set to happen in October.

Due to the Santa Barbara Harbor and Seafood Festival being canceled, the Spiny Lobster Fest will take place instead.

The event will be hosted by Get Hooked Seafood.

Get Hooked Seafood, a CSA-style membership program.

California Spiny Lobsters are prized worldwide because of their sweeter tail meat compared to Maine Lobster. China’s strong demand for our lobster gives it a high price and makes it hard to find locally.

“Our Spiny Lobster has always been a hot commodity. In the 1800s, Santa Barbara’s ‘Lobster Kings’ started up exports - to San Francisco. Our port still has a thriving, sustainable, small-boat lobster trap fishery to this day, thanks to the abundant, productive waters of the Santa Barbara Channel. These are blessings that everyone in Santa Barbara should celebrate and enjoy!” said Kim Selkoe, co-founder of Get Hooked Seafood and executive director of Commercial Fishermen of Santa Barbara, or CFSB.

The event will allow residents to help support their local fishing community and get local spiny lobsters.

The event will be at the Maritime Museum's outdoor front patio on October 23 from 1 to 4 p.m.

The small festival will have gourmet lobster dishes, music and live lobster for purchase from local fishermen.

Santa Barbara Harbor Festival usually runs from October to March beginning at the start of the lobster season but due to the pandemic, the event was canceled. This is the second consecutive year where it was canceled.

The Spiny Lobster Festival will help fundraise for CFSB, which took a hit from the Santa Barbara Harbor Seafood Festival cancellation.

Space for the Fest will be limited to maintain COVID safety.

Guests can select their entry time and can put down a deposit for a live lobster to take home.

Anyone interested in buying a ticket can click here.