Musselfest celebrates 40 years of bivalves
Published 1:30 am Friday, February 27, 2026
About a week out from the 40th anniversary of one of Coupeville’s biggest annual festivals — in her first year at the helm — event producer Krista Fleming feels calm, cool and collected. Sleepless nights are behind her, she said, with the heavy lifting already done.
“So now, it’s just executing,” Fleming said.
Penn Cove Musselfest returns to Coupeville March 6-8, bringing with it succulent mussels, lively music and plenty of mingling.
The ever-popular Mussel Mingle, an over-21 event featuring food, drinks and music, is back for two nights instead of just one, as was the case in previous years. For many locals, Fleming explained, the mingle is their first true night-out after a cold, dark winter. Attendees can still purchase tickets for Saturday night’s mingle.
“It’s always sold out. So this year we added a second mingle,” Fleming said. “That’s kind of a way to honor the 40 years, to say we keep growing and we know how to respond and adapt.”
Nine local restaurants are participating in chowder tasting, and tickets to the session taking place from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday are still available. Mussel farm boat tours, offering an educational flavor of festivities, will be taking guests on the water Saturday and Sunday; sailings are still taking passengers.
There are plenty of free activities, too. Kids can enjoy an array of activities at the Island County Historical Museum, including a climbing wall courtesy of YMCA Camp Casey, a new festival sponsor this year. Over 30 businesses in Coupeville are participating in a scavenger hunt with prizes. The Coupeville Library and Whidbey Island Bank will have Musselfest displays.
Although much of the festivities will be recognizable to Musselfest regulars, the event is benefiting from Fleming’s fresh perspective and more than two decades of experience in the event planning industry.
Jesse Levesque, the Coupeville Historic Waterfront Association’s executive director, and Fleming met at a busker performance at the waterfront one summer. When Levesque learned of Fleming’s event planning experience knowing the previous producer already planned to step back, she knew Fleming would be the right fit.
Growing up in Shoreline, Fleming visited Whidbey often as a kid, and harbors fond memories of visiting Camp Casey. She began her event planning career in Bellingham, fresh out of college, and later started her own company, KF Events, in 2002. Fleming and her family moved to Coupeville three years ago.
Experienced in planning events as big as “city-wides that take over big venues and lots of hotels” to those as small as “corporate retreats,” Fleming’s Musselfest responsibilities are familiar to her. But organizing a community festival is teaching her plenty, too, like how to work with vendors, partners and stakeholders.
Case in point: Sitting on YMCA Camp Casey’s advisory board meant Fleming knew the YMCA and Musselfest could be of mutual benefit to one another. Becoming a festival sponsor gives the YMCA publicity and lowers the festival’s operating cost, which can be a “couple hundred thousand dollars,” Fleming explained.
Musselfest can bring in “tens of thousands of dollars” for the association over the course of the weekend, Fleming explained, which the association reinvests in the waterfront. Attendance can vary, but the thousands of people the event can draw promotes the economic investment in local businesses that the association champions, particularly during a lull in the year before a busy tourist season.
Fleming said she is “honored” to be a part of 40 years of Musselfest, and a part of the festivities sustaining and celebrating Coupeville.
“I’m really excited to contribute to my community in this way,” she said.
