The Oyster Festival promises food and fun Saturday and Sunday
A popular annual festival, stretching from Audrey Avenue to Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Park and teeming with attractions like pirate shows, midway rides and its infamous oyster-eating and oyster-shucking contests, returns to the Oyster Bay Harbor area for its 34th year, Oct. 14-15.
Though the main food attraction here is, of course, oysters, foodies can also find lobster mac ‘n cheese (which is personally my fave; I had it last year), crab cakes, fish tacos, pumpkin and cheese raviolis, empanadas, bacon-on-a-stick and more. Those oyster contests I mentioned are held on Saturday, 2-3 p.m., on the West End Stage. You can sign up for both at the Rotary Information/Raffle Booth at the entrance to Theodore Roosevelt Park, beginning at approximately 11 a.m.
You definitely want to check out the three tents stationed along the bay, where you will find more than 140 vendors, selling clothing, home décor and other handmade wares. There’s also a zoo at this fest, with a llama, kangaroo, miniature ponies and other animals, too. And, you can also step aboard The Christeen, a 40-foot, gaff-rigged sloop, to observe West Harbor and Oyster Bay from a different viewpoint as you set sail.
Come down to Oyster Bay for an “Oysterpalooza” adventure like no other. All of your fun will be for a good cause since the profits from food court sales, along with proceeds from carnival rides and merchandise sales, are being donated to charities.
The Oyster Festival
Audrey Avenue and Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Park, Oyster Bay
516-628-1625 · theoysterfestival.org