The largest oyster festival in the region returns to Hilton Head Island on November 7th and 8th. For over 3 decades, the Island’s Recreation Center has been hosting this event to raise money for several island charities. Jesse is joined by Frank Soule, one of the events organizers to tell us a little more about what we can expect this year.

Jesse Blanco: You know, of all the foods that get discussed here in the Georgia/South Carolina Low Country, I think we’d all agree that we could put fried chicken and collard greens and a lot of those comfort food staples up at the top of the list. But one thing that is so incredibly ubiquitous in this area, that I think takes something of a backseat to all of those foods, is the oyster. And that said, the largest oyster festival in the region, I’m confident in saying that, is coming up in a few weeks here on Hilton Head Island, and joining us now to talk a little bit more about it is Frank Soule. He is the Executive Director of the Island Rec Center, the group that put this together a lot of years ago. First of all, welcome, sir. How are you?

Frank Soule: Very well, thank you for having us.

JB: My pleasure. You guys have been with the rec center, you were telling me earlier, for over three decades, correct?

FS: Yeah, I came here and began working for the Island Rec Association at the Island Rec Center for–1986 in November. I’ve been here ever since. I had the opportunity to be promoted to the executive director back in 1992, and we’ve got a great team. I know you know many of them, between Leah and Joe, we have a great team of special events people here, and it works out really well.

JB: I’ve heard so many stories about the origins and the first iterations, if you will, of all of the events you do. You also do Wing Fest in the spring, which is massive and wonderful in and of itself. But what are your earliest memories of the first couple of oyster festivals?

FS: So, I’m smiling because when Leah told me that you wanted to talk to me about it, it made me really think, and actually, the first oyster festival was down at Palmetto Bay Marina, Russell Anderson at Captain Woody’s—when Captain Woody’s was down there where the Carolina Crab Company is, and Captain Woody’s was in that location for a lot of years—hosted it, and we did it in the evening, and it was down the runway, walkway, whatever you want to call it, where they would drop boats in from that marina, and we hosted it in the evening after they were all done taking the boats out. And we did it on a Saturday evening. I don’t remember how many people… Mary Ward, she was here for a long time, our special events person, and I’ll have to give her credit for Wing Fest too with Joe, the start of that, but she’s the one who brought that to me. Her and her husband loved oysters, [they] would go to family oyster roasts, and [she] said, “hey, we ought to do this as a fundraiser for our scholarships.” And it kind of grew from there. Mayor Perry, Alan Perry, he got involved as a board member back in the day. And so we went from one evening to two full days at the old Shelter Cove Community Park where the apartments are now, [for] people who know the island at all. We went there, and then went over to the new Shelter Cove Park, and then we ended up at the Lowcountry Celebration Park right now, where we are now. Roy Prescott has been doing our oysters and the whole event for many years now, and of course, everybody knows Roy from Remy’s back in the day and how long that was here.

JB: Yeah, yeah. Did you think–okay, you know everybody loves oysters, they are bountiful, if you will, this time of the year in the fall. Did you think it could ever grow to the size that it has?

FS: You know, never, I really didn’t. I mean, when we first started out, it was kind of–it was this time of year. But has it grown now, I mean, we have people come from all over. And not only do they come for the weekend, because we do a Friday night all-you-can-eat, and then they show up on the next day on Saturday to eat oysters again. People come from Columbia, Charlotte, Ohio, wherever, they come from Jacksonville, and it’s just a really fun weekend. The All You [Can] Eat event is on Friday night, it’s at the Shelter Cove Park, and so it’s kind of a limited–we sell a limited amount of tickets, and it’s really kind of more intimate. We have a band, and it’s really kind of a smaller thing, but Saturday has just turned into a huge festival. We also do–I call them, I’m an old school guy, I call them an arts and crafts fair, they call them a maker’s mall–whatever they call them nowadays. But I’m an old school guy, and we do that as part of it. And we have a kid zone, and great music, and people come from all over. One of my best stories is that, I think she was from Ohio or something like that, and we had a bucket of oysters and she goes, “won’t somebody open these up for me?” I just go, “no, you’re kinda on your own. I’ll show you how to do it.”

JB: And that’s a lot of why I don’t, to be very honest, I don’t mess with them. I call it the knife fight, when you go to an oyster roast and everyone’s standing there with their little things, and the glove, and the towel, and there’s a system involved in this. I did not grow up with oysters down in South Florida, so it’s not something that is second nature to me like it is to so many people in this region. But as a result, I’m like, okay, if they’re shucked, if I got a nice little topping, the mignonette to go with it and all that… yes, I love oysters as much as the next guy, but to stand there and get involved in the knife fight, I will be very honest, I’m not a big fan. But it doesn’t matter, so many people, it’s such a part—it’s why I do love the event, I’ve been several times, it’s such a part of the fabric of the region, the community, the region, all of this, that it obviously was a no brainer. Would you agree?

FS: Yeah, oh yeah, definitely. I mean, in kind of picking up a little bit about what you said about a fabric of the region, I mean, we serve local oysters, the clusters, and really, it’s kind of a tradition. And Roy gets those from a gentleman that goes out, and I remember one year we had a really great Friday night, and he had to get more. And the guy went out that morning in his boat and harvested them, brought them to the event, and we cooked them. And it was really, I mean, they’re local, and that’s what really kind of makes it unique, and especially our festival, we’ve always kind of focused on trying to have local oysters. We have local shrimp as part of the deal, we get our shrimp from Hudson’s, and [it] couldn’t get any more off the boat than what we have from Hudson’s, and serving that as part of the kind of low country fare for our event.

JB: We’ll go down the details of the event, but this year it’s Friday November 7th, and Saturday the 8th, correct?

FS: Yes, correct. On the 7th it’s all-you-can-eat, it’s a $60 ticket, but we’re also offering something special this year, you can get a table for ten for $700, which is something unique that’s something that we’ve grown into with the number of people that come. So bring 10 of your friends, have a table, eat all-you-can-eat oysters, but we also have chili and soup and other things that come along with that, pulled pork, for that day, so it’s quite a value. One of the local bands, Rock Candy, will play that night, and it’s fun, I mean, it’s a fun evening.

JB: Yeah, very cool, very cool. Now, you guys obviously raise a ton of money. You just said $700 for a table, you know, you get a couple of hundred people out there, that’s a big chunk of change, especially over the two days. But it should be underscored vigorously that every dime that is profited from this goes right back into the Island Rec Scholarship Fund, correct?

FS: Yeah, last year we gave away to the community, families in need, over $280,000 to families that needed a little extra help. Most of those families are really in child care, or after school programs, summer camps. We also have a Discover Club program for three and four year olds, but we also offer in the summertime a camp for what’s called Challenge Camp for special needs kids, and that’s a lot of kids that come for our camp for practically nothing. And our efforts and what we’re doing with the oyster roast, and other events that we do, really kind of help us allow us that opportunity.

JB: Yeah, the other events–obviously I mentioned Wing Fest, which is in March every single year. I’ve had the honor of serving as a judge for that for almost a decade now, I want to say, if I go back and count them up. But those are the two big ones, you guys sprinkle in smaller size events throughout the year to raise all of that money, don’t you?

FS: Yes, there’s lots of other events. I don’t know when we have our Jeep Island that’s coming up, with the Chili Cook Off, a great event co-sponsored with the Kiwanis Club. They’ve been doing the Chili Cook Off forever around here. We’re new to the Jeep Island, I think we’re in our sixth or seventh year, what a great partnership that’s been. That’s just one of the many things. We’ve been having the opportunity to work with the town of Hilton Head, we worked with Island Jams, which was a few weeks ago, but we also have a snow day that’s gonna be coming up in January. Last year we got snowed out because of the snow that we had, so hopefully we can have Snow Day back.

JB: Very cool. So again, it’s Friday, November 7th, Saturday, November 8th. Friday night is all-you-can-eat at Shelter Cove Park, correct?

FS: Yep, and on Saturday we go from 11 to 5 at Lowcountry Celebration Park. It’s $10 to get in, and everything else is ala carte. Last year, we gave a bucket for $30 and we had shrimp that was out there, but we also have food trucks that will be serving oysters and other specialties throughout the day. We have bands, one of our feature bands is Groove Town Assault, which has been here forever–

JB: Love those guys. 

FS: Yeah, and they’re noon to two. And we have a bunch of other local bands, too. All the local bands want to play our events, because we’ll put them on a big stage and they love it.

JB:Yeah, it’s a good time, I’ve enjoyed it very, very much. That is coming up seventh and eighth, family friendly, will there be, you know, a kids zone with bounce houses and all of that craziness?

FS: Yes, there’ll be all that great craziness for mom and dad, so they can go around and get their bucket of oysters, and the kids zone–I think we’re known for our kids zone, that’s what–as an event planner, there’s a couple of things you always plan on having: somebody coming and picking up the trash, great restrooms, and a kids zone. If you have those three things, you’re going to have success.

JB: Yeah, I call it the babysitter when I’m there for Wing Fest with my wife, “well, here are the babysitters,” because you can stand there eating wings, and just as long as you have a view of the kids doing the bouncy things, like, okay, we get to enjoy it as well, or beer, or whatever the case may be. So, very good. Well, good luck with the event this year. Is there a goal for how much you’d like to raise?

FS: You know, last couple years we’ve raised anywhere between $30,000 and $40,000, and certainly we’d like to maintain that goal this year. And as you said earlier, this is one of our more successful events that we have. Obviously a lot of it’s weather driven, a little cool weather and a sunny day will go a long way for helping people eat a lot of oysters.

JB: Yeah, very good. Well, good luck. I unfortunately will not be able to attend, it’s the same weekend as a food festival that I’m a part of down in St. Augustine that weekend, so I won’t be there, but I’m sure it will be great. I’ve been in the past, and it’s a wonderful family-friendly afternoon, especially Saturday, for those who have never been. And you said you get people coming from all over the region to come and enjoy oysters on the island, right?

FS: Yes, yeah, all over, really, and like you said, it’s a family fun event, and I know you’ll be there in spirit.

JB: Yes, I will be. Last but not least, the website where people can go if they’d like to take a look at tickets.

FS: Yeah, islandreccenter.org. They can go there and they will direct you to the oyster festival website. And we have discounted tickets for a couple more weeks pre-sale, and then at the door they are $10. So you can get online and get your tickets in advance.

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