Walleye Festival, Port Clinton, Ohio
The world-renowned Walleye Festival is held every Memorial Day weekend
on Main Street in Port Clinton, Ohio. Port Clinton is the Walleye Capital of
the World, where food, fun, music and fried Walleye are plentiful. This
event is held at Port Clinton's Water Works Park.
These bright yellow banners are all over Port Clinton, Ohio, and the
surrounding area. The year 2014 marks the 34th annual Walleye Festival,
which ran May 22nd-May 26th. There was a Grande Parade, kids' fishing derby,
live music, carnival rides, and of course, fried walleye. The fun ran from
early morning until late at night.
Wylie Walleye makes his rounds at the Memorial Day Weekend Walleye Festival.
The main event, however, for this 20-foot fiberglass fish is Walleye Madness
at Midnight on New Years Eve. The fun starts with family-friendly activities
in the afternoon and ends with the Walleye Drop at midnight. The fun takes
place in the heart of Port Clinton at Madison Street.
This banner is welcoming festival-goers into the tent where they can get out
from under the late afternoon sun and sit down for a while. Food and
cold beverages are available, and everyone is having a great
time.
Nearly every seat in the tent is taken, even though there are a lot of them.
The sun is going down now, and the night's entertainment has just taken the
stage. Walleye, bloomin' onions, fries, water, and beer are on tap. The fun
lasts until 11 pm.
The Walleye and Perch sandwiches are definitely worth the wait. This Walleye
stand inside the festival tent is dinner for many festival-goers, and the
festival workers kept things moving right along.
Fifty Amp Fuse is the name of the Detroit-based band that performed on
Saturday evening, May 24th. This nine-member tribute band has also played
the USS Midway in San Diego and Las Vegas' House of Blues. They were headed
to another gig in Brighton, Michigan, after the Festival.
There were lanes and lanes of fun festival food at the Walleye Festival.
There were also t-shirt booths, souvenir vendors, craft booths,
and games.
Kids of all ages climbed aboard the carousel and there were many other
spinning rides. It was a bright, sunny day for festival-goers as
temperatures in Port Clinton topped out at 70 degrees F. The rides cost a
few bucks, but admission to the festival itself is free.