Yesterday around noon we came across a group of crabs on Connecticut Avenue. Wearing hot-looking plush outfits emblazoned with the URL www.baltimore.org, the group was wrapping up singing a song when we discovered them. (We snapped these photos.) Later in the day a DCist reader sent us a link to a post on his blog with a camera phone photo of the crabs hanging out at Dupont Circle.

What’s the deal? Are the creatures of the sea on a march of vengeance, like Snorky and his army? Far from it. The crabs were dispatched to New York and D.C. on Wednesday and Thursday this week by the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association to “spread the news about Baltimore with Washingtonians” as part of their summer marketing campaign for the city. According to their friendly public relations manager Sara Hisamoto, the crabs were performing songs “written to
the tune of well-known songs like Take Me out to Baltimore, and
Moondance and highlighted what’s new in Baltimore and why people should visit this summer.” Our request for lyrics from Sara has so far gone unmet.

This experience makes us wonder what plush animal life D.C. would use to represent itself. Although pandas may be a natural choice, the Rock Creek coyote might work too. Our past casual mentions of the city of Baltimore have unleashed a torrent of passionate commenting, so go to it.