Left: William Mahfood (left) and Shane Williams dig in at Saturday's crab party. Right: Members of the Rotary Club of Montego Bay turned out to support the crab party. - photos by Norman Grindley/Deputy Chief Photographer

It rained all day and even continued late into the night, but when crab eaters set their sights on an entire night of lip smacking fun, it's going to take a lot more that a few lousy rain drops to keep them away.

"Yes, man, crab eaters are serious people. When they sit to have crab, they'll stay in that one spot for hours," chuckled Eric 'Busha' Clarke as he took a moment's rest at his crab party in Westmoreland on Saturday night. It's something he's been doing for years, but what started out as a small family event, has now blossomed into a huge annual fund-raising activity that draws crowds from across the country.

"It's been a tradition on this property for generations and so I just continued it with my sisters, and since then, it has really grown. I, have to be trying desperately to control the crowd, and I even have to be thinking of changing the venue so that we can accommodate more people," he said.

This year, the party was held at Paradise Park, a beautiful family-owned seaside .property. "This is where we keep the party every year, but as the crowd keeps growing, I might have to think about moving it," Busha said.

As the event grew over the years, Busha decided that he would start collecting a donation from guests, that he then donates to the Rotary Club of Savanna-la-Mar. "They use it to assist them in whatever projects they have that year," he said.

Because of the overwhelming interest in the crab party each year, Busha has had to implement an invitation only policy, but even so, the event attracts several hundred persons.

"We cooked about 200 dozen crabs this year. We have curried crab, garlic crab, black bean, crab rundown, boiled crab, almost any way you can think of doing crab. We even have ribs," Busha said.

So the party went on well into the night with good music, dancing and of course, a lot of eating and drinking. Who knew that raising money for charity could be so much fun?

- Robert Lalah

A couple of young patrons having a grand time near the bonfire.