With Fall right around the corner, we’re starting to get excited for one of our favorite things in the world– oyster festivals! If you’re new to the oyster festival world, or just want to bone up on your essentials list because you haven’t been in a while, this is the article for you. We’ll outline some of our favorite must-haves to get through your first oyster festival with a full stomach and a good mood.
With dozens of oyster festivals around our area, there’s no reason not to get to as many as you can to sample all of the merroirs our region has to offer. Not sure what a merroir is? Bone up on some oyster terms here.
Oyster Festival Essentials
- A Quality Oyster Knife– many festivals will provide you with an oyster knife or the opportunity to purchase one. But, when you’re getting serious about your shucking, you’ll want a knife you can rely on. We recommend these beautiful handmade knives from Join or Die, but any quality oyster shucker will do. It’ll save you standing in line to buy one or having to rely on the flimsy festival knives.
- Cash– most festivals will have booths with food and drink for purchase. It can be easy to want to just bring your card to reduce how much is in your pockets, but having cash on hand will help you get through the line faster.
- Wet Wipes– shucking oysters can be a messy endeavor. Having some wet wipes to periodically give your hands a scrub can make shucking oysters easier and make eating them more enjoyable. While many festivals will have handwashing stations, by bringing your own wet wipes, you don’t have to wait in line. Also, make sure not to throw the wipes where the shucked oyster shells are as they’re often recycled.
- Shucking Gloves–Protect your hands with a pair of good shucking gloves. They’ll help you keep a grip on the oysters while shucking and will help prevent an accident should your oyster knife slip. We offer durable, rubber-lined shucking gloves here that are perfect for oyster festivals and let you rep your favorite oyster farm.
- Good shoes– This seems like a no-brainer but it’s an easy way to make your festival more enjoyable. You’ll be standing a lot, especially around the shucking table so having comfortable shoes on will make your time more enjoyable. Pro-tip: wear leather or rubber boots. Anything that can be wiped off easily because your shoes will get dirty and wet!
We hope to see you out and about at some of our area’s incredible oyster roasts this fall. We love meeting the people that love our oysters and will be happy to talk your ear off about our farm and what makes it so special.
Enjoy the festival season and happy shuckin!