Lobster Fest orders due this week
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on April 22, 2012 1:50 AM
Have a hankering for a Maine lobster but not willing to travel there or pay for a plane ticket to have one flown in?
Fret not. Partnership for Children of Wayne County has got you covered.
Hundreds of lobsters and thousands of shrimp will board a plane bound for Goldsboro next month. Or, more precisely, someone will make sure the crustaceans wing their way here in time for the eighth annual lobster and shrimp festival.
"The lobsters are as fresh as they can be. They are pulled out of the water and overnight flown to us," said Whitney Jansta, community services coordinator for the Partnership.
The event will take place Friday, May 4. Lobsters and shrimp will be picked up at and Raleigh-Durham airport that morning and cooked to order by community volunteers and Partnership staff.
Lobsters can be ordered cooked or purchased still alive, Mrs. Jansta pointed out. Shrimp, she added, will be available cooked in spices or frozen.
Tickets are $25 for a 1.25-1.5 pound lobster or bag of shrimp of comparable value.
All tickets, though, must be purchased in advance to get a more accurate count. The final day for placing an order is Thursday, April 26.
Ever since the event began eight years ago, it's grown increasingly popular, Mrs. Jansta said. Some even place a group order.
"Lobster and shrimp parties are popular, as the cooking is done for you," she said. "Just furnish the invitations and bibs and gather everyone together."
Beyond the potential for a fun evening, though, the event is an easy way to support early childhood education.
"The support of this provides money for several of our projects -- the bookbag project, where we distribute a free bookbag filled with school supplies and parent resources to each child who registers for kindergarten in Wayne County, and the early childhood educator fellowship program. It provides teacher scholarships for local students how want to go into early childhood education."
"Proceeds really go to a great cause but we're pushing for ticket sales. Tickets can be purchased at the Partnership, over the phone or in person."
It is also the biggest fundraiser that the Partnership does every year.
"We do depend on this money for those special projects that are so important to us," Mrs. Jansta said. "It's just around the corner. There's nothing else in Wayne County quite like this. It does support a great cause, or a great 'claws' as some people are saying.
"We want to get everyone involved in this that we can and we think that it has great appeal because it's a different fundraiser and it's so unique."
For more information, contact Mrs. Jansta at 919-731-3371 ext. 223 or email wjansta@pfcw.org.