Big bivalve fan, are you? Be sure to reserve your tickets for the sixth annual Island Creek Oyster Festival, scheduled for Saturday, September 10th. The afternoon-long event brings together more than twenty cookers from in and around New England, as well as a couple from New York and Chicago. Spend the day slurping oysters and enjoying the stunning views of Duxbury Beach. Volunteer shuckers will be cracking 30,000 oysters but if you’re in the mood to mix things up a bit, there’ll also be delicious nibbles from chefs like Brian Reyelt, Chris Robins, Dante de Magistris, Jamie Bissonnette, Jasper White, Jeremy Sewall, Josh Buehler, Mary Dumont, Michael Scelfo and Will Gilson, among lots and lots of others. Tickets cost $50 apiece, which will get you in the door, unlimited access to the chefs’ tasting and a front row spot (if you feel like elbowing your way up that far) for two local bands and the evening’s headliner, Joe Bachman and the Crew. Tickets for beer and wine, and oysters by the half dozen will be available for $5 each. Proceeds will be donated to the Island Creek Oysters Foundation, which provides funding and expertise to help build sustainable aquaculture systems in impoverished regions everywhere.
That’s not the only philanthropic opportunity, though – on the preceding evening, Friday, September 9th, the Island Creek peeps are hosting a Friends for Haiti fundraiser. The beachside benefit, which includes oysters and hors d’oeuvres from the likes of Frank McClelland, Joanne Chang, Jody Adams, Michael Schlow and Tony Maws, costs $250 per person. Proceeds support Haiti’s Caribbean Harvest, an organization that’s working to re-make Haiti’s domestic fishing industry, creating jobs and providing social services along the way. Whichever oyster-filled event you opt for, you can get everything you could possibly need – including driving directions, info about transportation to and from the event and a link for ticket purchases – on the event website.
