North Carolina Seafood Festival

One of North Carolina's largest festivals, the NC Seafood Festival draws an estimated 200,000 visitors to the Morehead City waterfront over an early-October weekend, with more than 200 artisan and commercial vendors serving fresh, locally caught North Carolina seafood prepared from the traditional to the exotic. A distinctive "Got to be NC Seafood" program verifies vendor sourcing, and the festival reports that the large majority of its vendors feature seafood caught in North Carolina waters, flagged by a sign at their booths. Continuous free live music runs Friday night through Sunday on the Main Stage, with grassy waterfront seating for chairs and blankets, and a road race over the Crystal Coast bridges adds to the weekend.

The festival is warmly reviewed, with about 90 percent of more than 1,600 reviewers recommending it, and attendees highlight the endless variety of fresh local seafood prepared many ways, the free live music and the waterfront setting, with the scallops earning a standout mention.