Featured Stories & Articles from Cape Cod Travel Magazine: OysterFest in Oyster Nation
With the clock ticking to the relentless prerecorded jazz beat of “Peter Gunn,” the annual Great Wellfleet Oyster Shuck-off is under way. Check-in and on-site registrations at the SPAT (Wellfleet Shellfish Promotion and Tasting) booth are over.
Jody Adams and Ken Rivard, celebrity chef judges from the Big Bean, made it across the Bourne Bridge this third Saturday afternoon in October, and are in their places on the Main Stage behind Town Hall.
“On your mark,” shouts emcee Eric Williams at the microphone. “Get set…. Go!”
Each with a tray of 24 oysters, Brad Morse and Dave Pike shuck like the wind. One hundred twenty-eight seconds and counting. Any man, woman, or child can enter and shuck with the best of them. Brad, 2:37; Dave, 5:14 at the final count.
“Good work, men…. Shake the hand of a semi-finalist in America’s finest village—Wellfleet, Massachusetts.” Official auctions of the remains will follow, twenty dollars a tray.
Next up on stage are James Gray and Ken Cozak.
“Time-keepers, are you ready? On your mark…Go!” Right-handers, cup with your left. Left-handers, cup with your right. “The Food of Emperors…. It’s neck and neck, twenty-four oysters apiece, with both men working their trays to separate the pretenders from the contenders. Wow! You’re in the zone, man.”
Now, as the wind picks up, it’s Kenny Parks on stage with Barbara Austin, “one of the legends of Wellfleet shell-fishing. This is the match we’ve been waiting for.”
The shells start flying and head for home. The timer requests a beer. Those glistening Wellfleet oysters burst into the autumn sunlight—cool, delicious.
“It’s the Kid versus the Legend here.” Barbara and Kenny are still at it. Her secret’s going in from the side. “And Barbara’s done, 2:36 preliminary time. Your best time of the day…. Kenny, go at it.”
Gray, his contest over, is headed to the emergency room of Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis for slipping the blade of a shucking knife under his thumbnail.
“Beer drinkers, hold onto your cups. The supply is getting low.”
The 5K Adult Road Race and the 1.4-mile Children’s Fun Run at Baker’s Field are done. So is the Tennis Round Robin, the spaghetti dinner at the Masonic Hall, and Disco Night at the Lighthouse Restaurant. So is the music by Tim Dickey and Friends, to be followed onstage by Skeeter and the Buzztones. Karen Dowcett’s Cirque de Sea Comedic Mask and Puppet Review, heralding the life cycle of an oyster, is in progress at the Congregational church. A spelling bee and a staged reading of playwright Kevin Rice’s Oyster Cove will soon take repeat bows at the Wellfleet Library.
Tomorrow—Sunday—don’t miss storytellers Jim Wolf and Patrick Fitzhugh, Frank and His Amazing Canine Review, the Narrowland String Band’s rendition of “The Wellfleet Oyster Song,” a pet parade, the scenic Mayo Beach Kayak Race, and the shucking contest finals. Unknown as yet to all but the Fates, the finalists will be Paul Suggs (first place, 1:36), Asa Nadeau (second place, 1:46), and Barbara Austin (third place, 1:55.5).
But right now, meet 12-foot-high Shucky Oyster. Not to mention the mussels Hans and Franz, along with an alewife in a poodle skirt. The kids at the new park behind the Catholic church are still moonbouncing, face-painting, oyster-jewelry making, pumpkin-painting, singing along—and more. The Shuttle’s still shuttling from the Town Pier to Holbrook and Main. And among all those food, arts and crafts, and education booths on and off the main drag—under the big white tent—one 15?-pound live lobster, with eyes blinking, looks on. To make Captain “Black” Sam Bellamy stand proud. Welcome to the big time—the OysterFest in Oyster Nation. Five-thousand participants, no less. It’s the ultimate block party at the end of the Cape, and it’s not just for Wellfleetians, but all of us.
