As I write this, we were officially about 36 hours into the Fall. You remember that day, don’t you? It had just rained for 3 days straight, and we got our first taste of something resembling cool morning temperatures. Glorious. Ironically, it was the also the day I had a chat with Joe Cain, Special Events Coordinator at the Island Recreation Center.
If you’ve lived on the island for any length of time, then you very likely know everything they do at the Rec Center year-round to raise money to help area children. Their facility is spectacular. Obviously, there are recreational opportunities for the island’s kids, but also educational. Pre-school and after school programs are a big part of what they do.
Their events year round are generally fundraisers. It takes more than a few bucks to make their world go-round. Maybe their biggest event of the year is coming up in a few weeks. Certainly their most popular. The Hilton Head Island Oyster Festival is back to full speed in 2021.
“Last year we had it at Honey Horn.” says Cain. “It was much smaller obviously. We had about 200 people.”
That’s a far cry from the the thousands they entertained in 2019, but everyone understands why that happened. We were lucky to see a 2020 version of the event at all.
That’s all behind us. Time to look forward to what promises to be another great event in November 2021.
“We are moving Saturday’s main event to Celebration Park” he says. “We think that will lead to a larger turn out. It’s closer to the beach, and it’s the South end of the island.”
Joe says the Oyster Festival has been ready for a larger footprint for some time, but options on the island were limited. Yes, there’s the ever popular Honey Horn location, but the sentiment was you needed to at least see water or otherwise be near water when you are hosting an oyster festival.
Make sense to me.
If you’ve attended before, you are in for more of the same stuff we’ve enjoyed in the past. Live music, oysters, food for the kids, oysters, other seafood items, and oysters in a family atmosphere that rivals anything you can attend on Hilton Head Island. All of that is Saturday at Celebration Park.
Friday night, November 12th from 5pm-8pm there’s a smaller all you can eat event at Shelter Cove. It’s a nice way to enjoy a beautiful sunset and some oysters, low country boil or pulled pork. Food provided by Roy’s Place Catering.
Joe tells me by the end of the weekend, they’ll pull about 8 tons of oyster shells away from the festival. They are taken to an island location where they are required to dry out in the sun for 6 weeks. Then they go right back into the water off the island’s shore to get back to work.
Either way, if you love oysters, it’s a great weekend for you. If you like contributing to the bottom line of one of the islands best non-profits, well then it’s a great weekend for you as well.
The Hilton Head Oyster Festival will be held November 12 and 13 on Hilton Head Island. You can find more information now at hiltonheadoysterfestival.com
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