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OysterFest Cancellation Hurts, but How Much?

Losing biggest weekend could damage Wellfleet oyster ‘brand’

By Alex Sharp Jul 28, 2021

WELLFLEET — The board of the nonprofit Shellfish Promotion and Tasting (SPAT) announced on June 25 that the annual Wellfleet OysterFest, scheduled for the weekend of Oct. 16 and 17, had been called off for the second consecutive year. The official reason was to protect public health, but the delay may serve as a chance for organizers to rethink some aspects of the event.

The Fest’s popularity — it grew from an informal get-together on the town pier in 2000 into Wellfleet’s busiest weekend of the year, attracting about 23,000 people in 2019, according to SPAT — has become its Achilles’ heel in a not-yet-post-pandemic season.

The decision to cancel “was not made lightly,” said Nancy O’Connell, president of the SPAT board. Getting to “No” involved discussions with the Wellfleet Select Board, interim Town Administrator Charlie Sumner, the police and fire depts., and town Health and Conservation Agent Hillary Greenberg-Lemos, O’Connell said.

The absence of the Fest for the second year in a row will have a “big negative impact” on the local economy, said O’Connell.

“Its impact is just huge across just about every business in town and surrounding towns,” O’Connell said, “at gas stations, hotels — we’ve had realtors say they’ve had people come to the Fest and want to buy a house in Wellfleet.” All told, the economic benefit of the 2019 festival has been estimated at between $2 million and $3 million.

In 2019, the OysterFest drew some 23,000 visitors. (Photo courtesy Wellfleet SPAT)

What another year without the OysterFest will mean for local shellfishermen is not as clear. Theoretically, they profit from the opportunity to sell directly to the public. SPAT estimated that 126,940 pieces of shellfish, mostly oysters, were devoured at the 2019 edition.

Calls to various shellfishermen for comments on the cancellation were not returned. No reply came to messages left with Nancy Civetta, the town’s shellfish constable. Long days of sunlight mean this is a busy time for those working on the flats.

“Selling 125,000 oysters in one day is a good thing,” said Alex Hay, owner of Wellfleet Shellfish Company, a wholesale operation that handles many producers’ harvests. “But in the grand scheme of things, that’s not so many oysters.” What Hay worries about more, he said, is how this second cancellation could affect the Wellfleet oyster brand.

“The Fest is followed far and wide,” Hay said, “so it’s a way to really get the Wellfleet oyster and what’s special about it out there.”

O’Connell agreed that the importance of the Fest goes well beyond a single weekend. It establishes the town as a “premier oyster destination,” she said. “We want people to enjoy the oysters here and then ask for them when they go home.”

While festival crowds may seem fixated on food and drink, Frances Francis, owner of the eponymous Main Street women’s clothing store, said OysterFest weekend was the biggest of the year for her business. She described last year’s cancellation as “devastating” and “a huge blow,” and said that if it weren’t for higher than usual sales so far this summer there would be a risk of her shop having to close. She wishes the SPAT board had not decided to cancel.

Susan Leigh Bonn, owner of Drift Home and Gift, also on Main Street, originally thought the decision to cancel was made prematurely, but now thinks it seems more appropriate with the recent spike in Covid-19 cases on the Cape. “Anything that protects the public, I support,” she said. Leigh Bonn loves the revenue and excitement brought by the Fest, but said that one weekend doesn’t make or break the season.

Jeanie Bessette, owner of Ragg Time Ltd., said she had mixed emotions about the decision to cancel, but added that the Fest’s large crowds are a safety concern — coronavirus or no. She said she hopes a two-year break will help slow the festival’s growth.

The SPAT board’s cancellation statement promised a “new and improved” Wellfleet OysterFest in October 2022.

One possible change that has been floated in the past is moving the main attractions — the food stands, crafts, and the stage where music and the “shuck off” take place — to the town pier.

A chance to rebuild SPAT’s leadership may also be in order.

Alex Hay was a founding member of the organization behind the festival, and for years provided logistical help for it. In particular, his warehouse became a kind of staging area, handling at a discounted rate the required tagging and refrigeration of the oysters local shellfishermen would then offer at the Fest.

Both Alex and his brother Mac Hay, who was also a founder, resigned from the board in 2019, with some other members suggesting that, because of Alex’s wholesale business and Mac’s markets and restaurants, the two had too great a financial interest in the success of the OysterFest to serve on its board.

O’Connell said the Hays’ resignations had nothing to do with the decision to cancel this year, an assessment Alex Hay agrees with. “The festival went off just fine in 2019,” he pointed out. “But after this hard year, I can understand how the whole undertaking might seem daunting.”

Michele Insley, SPAT’s executive director, is reported to have resigned, but declined to comment.

With vaccine-induced herd immunity still to be accomplished, oyster grants to transfer, and plans for an improved organization and festival to build, the people who make the Wellfleet OysterFest happen will be plenty busy, even without a festival to run.

In the meantime, SPAT says, people can support the town’s shellfishing industry by buying more Wellfleet oysters and clams.

Morning After

By The Independent Oct 22, 2020

Irving Puffer at work on his grant in Wellfleet Harbor on a perfectly calm Monday morning after OysterFest weekend. Working with him, but not in this photo was Jake, his son and business partner, the first winner of a Wellfleet SPAT scholarship in 2006.

On the same day, a collaborative aquaculture gear cleanup effort was underway. Coming together to pull stray gear from Wellfleet’s intertidal waters on Oct. 19, left to right: Genevieve Martin, Laura Ludwig, Nancy Civetta, Paul Hussey, and Americorps Volunteer Ashley Boudreau. (Photos Nancy Bloom)

VIRTUAL OYSTERFEST

Chefs and Shuckers Take to the Stage for the 20th Annual Wellfleet OysterFest

For the first time, staying home for the ’Fest means not missing the shuck off

By Nina West Oct 15, 2020

WELLFLEET — Like almost everything else in 2020, the Wellfleet OysterFest will look very different this year. The town’s signature celebration, which in 2019 hosted about 23,000 visitors and routinely brings in several million dollars to local businesses, had to be completely re-imagined due to the pandemic.

In early April, it was clear there would be no big in-person event. But before deciding on a virtual fest, its nonprofit organizers, Wellfleet SPAT (Shellfish Promotion and Tasting), focused on developing ways to support local shellfishermen who had, as restaurants closed across the country, abruptly lost the market for their harvests.

During those first few months, SPAT put together two relief programs through which it has by now distributed $92,400, according to Michelle Insley, the organization’s executive director. First, a community food share program purchased oysters from local growers and donated them to organizations and restaurants that were providing free food for people in need. Next, SPAT put $50,000 into the Wellfleet Shellfish Harvester Relief program, a new emergency fund managed in partnership with the Lower Cape Outreach Council. Farmers and wild pickers may access the fund two times in a calendar year.

The OysterFest usually nets around $100,000, which goes to SPAT’s work promoting the local shellfish industry. Funds also support two scholarships every year, Friends of Herring River, and Mass Audubon’s coastal ecology program at Wellfleet Elementary School.

Insley said she hopes the upside of the virtual event will be the possibility of reaching a national audience hungry to know more about the history of the shellfish industry here, the unique growing environment, and the work of oyster farmers and wild harvesters.

Going virtual has turned out to be a big production. But, Insley said, “We found all this great local talent to help pull it off.” Justin Lynch, a shellfisherman, has filmed and directed a series of promotional spots and a video with G. Love (who lives in Orleans). Liz Shook, who grew up in Brewster and went to Nauset Regional High School, has brought a background in advertising and film production to the virtual shuck off.

“We knew people would be kind of ‘Zoomed out,’ ” Shook said. “There are so many virtual things and people are asked to watch so much content on screens — so how do we make this special?”

The online ’Fest will feature the shuck off, but add some color with videos and a few well-known names. G. Love is the musical guest, while Ming Tsai, Jamie Bisonette, and Elle Simone Scott are featured chefs. Longtime SPAT board member Jodie Birchall will be the emcee.

The format is similar to that of the Democratic National Convention. In between the shucking heats, there will be prerecorded videos of each chef sharing a favorite oyster recipe. Because it was impossible to send film crews, chefs made their own videos, which Shook says “really adds something awesome and homemade about it all.”

Nancy Civetta, Wellfleet’s shellfish constable, who has been the producer of the live shuck off for years, sees lots of good in the virtual version ahead. “Because we’re having it filmed professionally,” she said, “you’re going to be able to see, close up, the people shucking, their technique and facial expressions, and much more of the banter.”

Civetta said the new format will also provide a view of the judges at work — something the crowds have never seen before. “It will show just how meticulous and nit-picky they are,” she said.

Music has always been an important part of the ’Fest. Since the very first year, only two songs have been played during the finals, Dick Dale’s “Miserlou” and “Jungle Boogie.” The organizers got the rights to “Miserlou,” and a local band from Orleans, The Stellwagen Symphonette, recorded a version that will be played during the shucking heats.

The 10 participating all-star shuckers represent the very best of the past 19 years. Many have won or placed several times. William “Chopper” Young, who traveled to Galway, Ireland, and took the world champion title there, has entered five Wellfleet shuck offs and won every time. Barbara Austin, James Gray, and Calen Bricault have all won or placed seven times.

Keith Rose, who won the very first shuck off, has been sea clamming from his boat in Provincetown. He thinks the shucking might be a bit comical this year because everyone is so out of practice with no raw bar work all these months. But all are glad to participate in what has become a townie tradition, and, at a time when the bars are closed, it’s a welcome chance to hang out and reconnect. And, of course, there’s the bragging rights and $1,000 cash prize for the winner.

‘The Shuck Must Go On’ will stream on YouTube on Saturday, Oct. 17 at 5 p.m.

CONTENDERS

Behind the Scenes at OysterFest 2020

Lights, cameras, masks: ‘The shuck must go on!’

By Edward Boches Oct 15, 2020

Virtual shuck — The stage is set with three cameras trained on it to capture the emcee at work, the shuckers, and the judges. (Photos Edward Boches)

There will be a shuck off at the 20th annual OysterFest. But there will be no competitive parking, no pressing through crowds on Main Street, and no lines under the beer tent. This will be the first and, it is widely hoped, only time that getting comfy will be part of your OysterFest experience. That’s because you will be watching the shuck off as it streams on your small screen via YouTube this Saturday, Oct. 17, at 5 p.m.

Don’t worry. The production values of what the organizers at SPAT are calling the “All-Star Shuck Off” will be well beyond those of your last Zoom meeting. A nine-person crew is setting up to handle cameras, lighting, and sound at the WHAT theater, where shuckers will take the stage. Renowned chefs have buffed up their favorite oyster recipes for cooking spots. And everybody involved has been through physically distant dress rehearsals under the supervision of producer Liz Shook of Brewster and director Max Esposito of Boston’s Sweet Rickey Productions. Here is a peek at all the work going on behind the scenes.

OUTER CAPE PORTRAIT

Ingenuity on the Flats

By Marnie Crawford Samuelson Jul 2, 2020

NANCY CIVETTA / SHELLFISH CONSTABLE / WELLFLEET

In early July, things are different on Wellfleet’s shellfish flats. Even as restaurants begin to open more fully across the commonwealth and country, demand for oysters is only now starting to pick up, and the outlook for local harvesters and growers seems uncertain. In mid-May, Nancy Civetta sat down to reflect on how the pandemic has affected Wellfleet’s shellfish community and on the “positivity” she sees on the flats. Here’s Nancy in her words:

The winter of 2019-2020 never really happened.

For the first time in many years, we got no ice. So, farmers were able to get their animals out of their pits and back onto the flats fairly early. The mild weather definitely put people in a good mood. It’s easier to go to work when it’s not frigid and buried in ice.

The middle of March is when the pandemic really hit our shores. Gov. Baker issued a stay-at-home order. Just from one day to the next, all of the markets dried up, and people had no place to sell. Spring can be a very good time to make some sales, as markets typically start to pick up. And it evaporated.

It really put a crush on local shellfishermen in a way that I don’t think we’ve ever experienced before. People felt it immediately, because if you can’t make a sale, you can’t make a paycheck. From one minute to the next, there was just no harvesting. And it was bleak for a number of weeks.

* * *

They say necessity is the mother of invention, and very quickly this little community of Wellfleet, as always, rolled up its shirtsleeves and got down to the business of being creative. The first thing that happened is that Wellfleet Shellfish Promotion and Tasting, Wellfleet SPAT, the nonprofit that produces the annual oyster festival, began an initiative to purchase, at a very good price, oysters and clams from growers and wild harvesters. And then they donated it to local food banks, food pantries, elder care facilities. The shellfish that comes right from Wellfleet Harbor ended up on the dinner plates of people in need throughout Cape Cod.

Even though they are independent minded, shellfishermen love to brainstorm together and come up with ideas. You see this raw ingenuity as you drive around on the flats and watch people at work. No two people do things the same. You can look out and see a bunch of racks and bags with oysters in them, but it doesn’t mean that it’s happening in the exact same manner. And in fact, it doesn’t. There’s such a wide diversity of people — fathers and daughters, couples, friends — that run these farms. There’s some people who run bigger farms, but there’s just the beauty of the family farm and the small business.

* * * *

Wellfleet and shellfishing have been synonymous since 400 years ago, when the bay was discovered (by Europeans), and it was just oysters, oysters everywhere. In addition to having the most farms of any other town in the commonwealth by almost double, we also are number one for the wild oyster fishery.

And the one thing about Wellfleet Harbor that makes it very, very different from other places is that we have natural reproduction of oysters. We have spawning, we have perfect habitat.

Shellfishing is the number one industry for the town year-round. It employs 15 percent of the population, and it’s the lifeblood. It’s what makes this community tick. It’s what makes us successful and who we are. I just really pray that when markets come back, that the Wellfleet name — the world-renowned recognition that the Wellfleet oyster brand name has — will be the first thing people think of, because competition will be quite tough.

* * * *

I’ve been on the job now (as constable) for two and a half years. I think I’ll probably be a student until the day I retire, and I still won’t have learned it all. I love going out and having conversations with people, whether on a farm or in the wild. Everybody has something to share. And I certainly have something to learn from everyone, from people who have decades of experience out there and from people who are just starting out, because they see things with fresh eyes.

AQUACULTURE

OysterFest Is off the Table

Economic hit estimated at over $2 million

By Devin Sean Martin May 14, 2020

Wellfleet OysterFest draws over 20,000 visitors. That’s a crowd the town can’t imagine hosting this year. (Photo courtesy Wellfleet SPAT)

WELLFLEET — This town’s signature day will be missing in 2020 due to fears about the spread of Covid-19. The select board voted on April 28 to ban public uses of town property for the rest of this year.

That means OysterFest, the mid-October weekend that has attracted crowds of shellfish lovers and sellers since 2001, is canceled.

“We are heartbroken about it, of course,” said Michele Insley, executive director of Wellfleet SPAT. “It’s our primary fundraising event. But last year we had over 23,000 people, and I can’t imagine that many people in close proximity together now.”

SPAT, which stands for Shellfish Promotion and Tasting, plans and runs OysterFest every year.

The decision to disallow any use of town property was discussed at length by the select board, especially whether the ban needs to continue for the rest of the year. But the board decided that the idea of a densely crowded public event taking place in Wellfleet only five months from now is wishful thinking.

“We need to be clear and decisive,” said board member Helen Miranda Wilson. “It only takes two people to spread the virus. We don’t want to string people along.”

Insley can’t blame them.

“We support the select board’s difficult decision,” she said. “Our foremost priority is keeping a safe event as we continue to focus on the message to preserve, promote, and protect the shellfishing community.”

OysterFest is a crucial financial stimulus for shellfishermen on the Outer Cape, as well as a way to raise public awareness of the shellfishing industry.

Last year’s fest was the biggest ever, Insley said. The festival hosted 10 raw bars operated by local shellfishermen, and the crowds consumed 126,940 shellfish, mostly oysters.

Zack Dixon, co-owner of Holbrook Oyster in Wellfleet, is one of the many local shellfishermen missing out on the chance to sell his product at the festival.

“It took me by surprise, it seemed so early, but it sank in quickly,” he said. “It’s understandable, but it’s a bummer for the fishing community.”

Dixon said OysterFest provides vital income for shellfishermen in the fall when demand for oysters is down.

“It’s a good chunk of money for guys heading into the winter,” he said.

To adapt, Dixon has turned Holbrook Oyster into a delivery service, using his shellfish distribution license to deliver his product to residences and organizations from Provincetown to Harwich.

Shellfishermen aren’t the only ones affected by the select board’s decision. The crowds that come to the fest also support Outer Cape hotels, restaurants, convenience stores, and gas stations.

“There will be a trickle-down effect,” said Insley. “We could see an economic impact of two to three million dollars.”

To help support local shellfishers whose incomes have already been hurt by the closure of restaurants and bars, SPAT has launched the Community Food Share Program, purchasing shellfish from local harvesters and distributing it to community kitchens and senior living facilities.

SPAT currently has 59 harvesters participating and is serving 15 community kitchens and assisted living facilities. So far, the program has supplied over 30,000 oysters and clams to people in need.

“To the people who have come to OysterFest all these years, it is because of you that we can do this,” Insley said. “A lot of people don’t realize OysterFest is produced by SPAT for this purpose, to raise money for our community and support them in times like these.”

SPAT is working with four distributors, Holbrook Oyster, Billingsgate Shellfish, Mac’s Kitchen, and the Wellfleet Shellfish Company, to get the bivalves to those in need.

“We want to engage in keeping fishermen and shellfishermen working, so we reached out to local food banks and places like that,” said Dan Brandt, an employee at Wellfleet Shellfish Company. “We want to make sure people have proper nutrition.”

oysterfest 2019

Changes Coming to This Year’s Wellfleet OysterFest

Revamped SPAT board hires new oyster handlers

By Sophie Ruehr Oct 10, 2019

WELLFLEET — Ever wonder how all those oysters get to OysterFest? This year, Wellfleet Shellfish Promotion and Tasting (SPAT), the nonprofit that organizes the OysterFest, is expecting to serve 130,000 oysters to around 20,000 people over the course of the two-day festival on the weekend of Oct. 19-20, according to Michele Insley, SPAT’s executive director.

On Tuesday and Wednesday before OysterFest, trucks from Big Rock Oyster in Harwich will be stationed on the Wellfleet pier to pick up oysters, which will then be hauled back to Harwich for processing. All oysters served at the festival, both wild and farmed, are from Wellfleet’s big, protected harbor.

Andrew Cummings on his oyster grant, Wellfleet — Wellfleet’s Andrew Cummings ices oysters for the trip to market. (Photo Julia Cumes/Courtesy SPAT)

For safety reasons, all oysters in Massachusetts must be processed before sale by a licensed wholesaler to prevent the growth of Vibrio parahaemolyticus, a toxic bacteria that can cause illness if consumed in large quantities.

Big Rock Oyster owner Aaron Brochu said that when oysters are harvested and exposed to air, they close and stop filtering water. In warm conditions, Vibrio trapped inside reproduces quickly, growing to illness-producing levels.

To prevent that from happening, oysters must be placed on ice within two hours and further cooled to 45 degrees F within 10 hours of being harvested.

Brochu said that the Big Rock Oyster facility can easily process the large quantity of oysters for next weekend, adding that 130,000 oysters “might sound like a lot, but we sell that many every day. That’s what we do — we handle that kind of volume.”

Wellfleet Shellfish lost bid

In past years, SPAT contracted with the Wellfleet Shellfish Company to process oysters at its facility in Eastham. But brothers Alex and Mac Hay, owners of Wellfleet Shellfish Company as well as several seafood restaurants and fish markets, resigned from the SPAT board this year, and Wellfleet Shellfish lost its bid to process shellfish for OysterFest 2019.

Insley said that SPAT had put out a request for proposals, and that Big Rock fit the bill. “Big Rock was chosen for a number of reasons, primarily cost,” she said, adding that they had also offered to pick up oysters from fishermen directly at the pier.

Previously, shellfishermen had to drive their catch to Wellfleet Shellfish’s facility in Eastham.

Brochu said that SPAT “reached out to us. We were one of the few people who could physically handle the job on the Cape, which is why they chose us.”

According to Alex Hay, Wellfleet Shellfish Company provided oyster processing for the fest at bargain rates — “at a loss,” he said. Both he and his brother had also donated time and energy to organizing the annual event for the past 18 years.

“Usually, I have to take eight weeks to get ready for this festival,” Alex said. “It’s burdensome. It’s had an impact on our company. When you take the two principals and pull them offline for eight weeks, we just go flatline.”

Changes in leadership and on stage

Alex Hay said that he had stepped down from the board due to a disagreement over SPAT’s mission, which started “strictly as a marketing organization.” Initially, SPAT worked to develop the Wellfleet oyster as an international brand and to prolong the oyster season.

But over the years “it became very frustrating,” he said. “Somehow, we got funneled into a charity organization.”

When asked what issues led to the Hays stepping down, Insley said that there had been some concerns about transparency on the SPAT board.

“If somebody [on the board] has a related interest, they might excuse themselves or clarify it,” Insley said. “We have procedures to handle [conflicts of interest]. But where is that explained to the public? So people could have perceived that.”

Alex Hay said that his involvement in SPAT was not a conflict of interest but a natural fit. His commitment to Wellfleet’s shellfish industry, he said, makes him care even more deeply about OysterFest’s success. “It’s been a long passion of mine, and I felt strongly for it,” he said. “I worked hard to set the standards high.”

Insley said that new board members Wil Rhymer and Andrew Jacob, who filled Mac and Alex Hay’s spots, provide fresh perspectives with financial and wild fishery expertise, respectively.

The change in leadership will affect the festival’s proceedings. Mac Hay, as SPAT board president, hosted the oyster shucking competition in previous years, with Eric Williams acting as MC. Neither Hay nor Williams will be onstage for the shuck-off this year.

Instead, SPAT board member Jodi Birchall will be hosting. “It’s always been our policy to have a board member on the stage,” Insley said. “Eric will not be there. He’s using this as his opportunity to transition [out of his role]. We did ask him, but he declined.”

Since he hasn’t had any involvement in planning OysterFest this year, Alex Hay said that he’s able to spend more time with his family this fall and focus on connecting with his customers.

“I’m thrilled not to be burdened down,” Alex said. “I can focus on the mission: selling oysters.”