SeaFest Offers a Taste of Newport as Part of a 10-Day Menu of Events : Festival: Newport Beach restaurants showcased specialties at the Fashion Island. A boat race and a hot-air balloon liftoff are planned today.

NEWPORT BEACH —  With the tempting aroma of exotic food creations wafting all around them at the Newport SeaFest, little Samantha Brown and her best friend, Lindsey Fines, knew in a minute what they wanted--some shade and ice-cold slices of watermelon.

“That’s it. That’s all they wanted,” said Samantha’s mother, Regina Flowers, as the children munched on their cold fruit, carefully picking out the black seeds. “They are watermelon fanatics.”

The 3-year-old youngsters and their mothers were among the hundreds who strolled Saturday through the colorful array of vendors and exhibitors at the festival’s Taste of Newport on the grounds of Fashion Island.

The food festival is just one of more than 25 events scheduled during the 10-day celebration throughout this beach community, where officials expect more than 25,000 people by the time the festival closes next Sunday. The celebration began Friday.

But watermelon wasn’t the only item on the menu at the Taste of Newport, which officials described as, by far, SeaFest’s most popular attraction.

Chefs from more than 40 local restaurants were serving their specialties--from Rueben E. Lee’s crab bisque soup to goat cheese won-tons created by Newport’s Five Feet Too restaurant--in open-air stands, draped in brightly colored banners.

Hassan Hassan, owner of Hassan’s Cafe in Newport Beach, said he has never been able to prepare enough barbecued lamb and stuffed grape leaves to satisfy the hungry crowds.

“I was out of the lamb by 9:30 p.m. last night (Friday),” Hassan, 43, said. “I always sell out.”

A short distance away, Lisa Kaplan, 30, of Scott’s Seafood Grill and Bar was hawking loaves of bread--baked in the shapes of lobsters, crabs and other seafood delights--for $20 each.

“We always had them on display in the restaurant,” Kaplan said. “We never thought about selling them until people kept asking us about them. Some were offering $50. The response has been wonderful.”

Saturday’s SeaFest activities kicked off earlier in the day when 31 hot-air balloons took flight from Newport Center Drive and the Coast Highway.

“It was a great sight,” said Richard Luehrs, president of the Newport Harbor Area Chamber of Commerce. They took off about 9 a.m. after a short delay because of early morning fog. “But it was just beautiful,” Luehrs said.

The balloons are scheduled to make a second launch between 6 and 11 a.m. today.

Choppy seas slowed but didn’t stop the flow of visitors to another popular attraction--the destroyer Lynde McCormick. The 437-foot warship, anchored in Newport Harbor, was providing visitors with an up-close look at the Navy’s sea power. Tours of the vessel will also be offered today. Shuttles will take visitors from Fashion Island to the harbor from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Also on tap today is a rally-style electric boat race, sponsored by Duffield Marine, beginning at the Balboa Bay Club and running throughout the harbor between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m.

Next weekend, music lovers will be treated to the Hyatt Newporter Jazz Festival. On Friday, anglers will get the chance to test their pier and boat-fishing skills in the SeaFest Fishing Tournament, sponsored by the Cannery Restaurant. Next Sunday, more than 5,000 cyclists are expected to take part in the Orange County Bicycle Classic.

The festival is in its second year, and Luehrs said he hopes only that it will break even. Last year, he said, the festival lost about $45,000.