WELLFLEET — Last Saturday dawned sunny and mild — rare weather for the first day of the annual OysterFest.
Wellfleet OysterFest
OYSTERFEST 2022
Volunteers Pull Off Wellfleet’s Big Party With Panache
With room to roam and slurp, the Fest at Baker’s Field is a success
Photos by Agata Storer
The OysterFest moved to Baker’s Field this year, giving the 7,000 or so people who gathered on Saturday and again on Sunday to celebrate the town’s famous bivalves room to slurp, roam, shop, and play.
Seven raw bars were at the center of the action, and “having them as the centerpiece put the focus on our mission,” said SPAT board president Nancy O’Connell. “And I think with the open space more people ate oysters than ever before.”
Wellfleet SPAT, which organizes the festival, exists to celebrate the oyster but also to educate people about the town’s shellfishing tradition and the environment that sustains it. Proceeds support scholarships and community grants that, according to the SPAT website, have totaled $740,000 since the organization’s founding in 2002.
GOOD WORDS
OysterFest Spelling Bee Results
Liberty Schilpp of Wellfleet correctly spelled “riparian” (which means relating to the banks of a natural water course) to win the adult round (the Quahogs) of the 17th annual OysterFest Spelling Bee on Saturday at the Wellfleet library. On the way to victory she also spelled “toothsome,” “fugu,” and “symbiotic.” Schilpp was the champion the last time the bee took place, in 2019.
There was a three-way tie for Quahogs second place: Jennifer Subrin of Wellfleet, Jessie Swain of Harwich, and Alyia Vasquez of Wellfleet — who is Schilpp’s daughter.
In the Littlenecks round for spellers age 12 and under, first prize went to Annie Gamarello, 10, of Branchburg, N.J. She won by spelling “turtle” correctly. Her brother Lucas, 7, took second prize after a tense spell-off with third-place winner Emma Podolsky, 8, of Maplewood, N.J. Lucas nailed the words “cargo,” “razor,” and “chef.” Emma got “spore” and “hermit,” but missed on “pilot.”
Annie and Lucas are Emma’s cousins. The master of ceremonies pointed out that many notable spellers come from New Jersey.
All the participants in the bee got to choose prizes from an array of books selected by the Wellfleet librarians. —Edward Miller
FESTLESS
OysterFest Cancellation Hurts, but How Much?
Losing biggest weekend could damage Wellfleet oyster ‘brand’
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.
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.
OYSTERFEST RERUN
‘Chopper’ Young Takes Another Shuck Off Prize
Two dozen perfect oysters in under two minutes
The shuck off was the main event at the virtual version of the Wellfleet OysterFest on Saturday. In a production filmed on the stage at the Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater and then streamed, not everything about the ’Fest was different this year: hometown favorite William “Chopper” Young won the top prize. It was his sixth time to enter the contest in its 20-year history, and his sixth win.
Young shucked his 24 oysters in one minute and 42 seconds, a time then adjusted by the judges for imperfections in the presentation to 3:15. Calen Bricault, of Eastham, took second place with a finish time of 1:40, adjusted to 3:34. And Kyle Morse, who also lives in Eastham, was the contest’s comeback kid, after sitting out for years after his last win in 2010. He came in third with a finish time of 2:15 and adjusted final time of 4:05.
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
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!’
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.
ALL-STAR
On Tap For OysterFest
Elle Simone Scott took delivery last week on 72 Wellfleet oysters at America’s Test Kitchen in Boston, where she is a test chef and stylist. The oysters were courtesy of Lucky Lips — farmed by Jason Weisman and family on Loagy Bay. Scott, who is also a founder of She Chef, a mentoring organization to empower women of color in the culinary field, is one of three celebrity chefs who will be virtual hosts for the 20th Annual Wellfleet OysterFest’s All-Star Shuck Off.
Even though she is originally from Detroit, and came to Boston via New York City, Scott’s favorite oyster recipe has roots in New Orleans. She’ll be showing off her New Orleans-style Charbroiled Oysters, drizzled with herbed butter, sizzled on the grill, and scattered with Parmesan and Romano cheeses, when the ’Fest Shuck Off programming streams from the WHAT theater on Oct. 17 at 5 p.m.
AQUACULTURE
OysterFest Is off the Table
Economic hit estimated at over $2 million
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
The Weekend, in Numbers, Pictures, and (Spelling) Words
The crowd: There were a total of 18,178 admission tickets sold, 11,486 of them on Saturday. This is about average compared to other years. Before we go on with more stats on the OysterFest, let’s set the scene with a few pictures.
OysterFest by the Numbers
Serving those 18,178 festival-goers were 190 volunteers.
The money: The net amount raised for Wellfleet Shellfish Promotion and Tasting (SPAT), the nonprofit that sponsors OysterFest, was about $90,000 after expenses. (It will be used largely for marketing and promotion of the Wellfleet brand of oysters.)
The oysters: Based on shellfish booth inventories, 109,500 raw and 13,350 cooked oysters were sold.
The cups: This was the first year SPAT banned plastic cups and replaced them with cans and collectable cups. The preliminary estimate on cup sales is 3,500, sold for $5 each. Another 1,500 wine cups were sold.
The beer: 25 barrels of stout (the only beer on draft) and 15,072 cans of beer.
The shells: Three dumpsters filled with shells were collected. Usually only two are filled, a gain attributed to more visible recycling shell receptacles. The shells will overwinter at the transfer station and then be put out in propagation areas in the harbor to help raise more oysters.
The shucking contest: Calen Bricault won first place by shucking 24 oysters with a final time of 2 minutes and 55 seconds. Steve Boreen took second with a time of 3:13 and Jordan Sawyer placed third with 3:35. —K.C. Myers
(Source: SPAT Executive Director Michele Insley)
The Bee
WELLFLEET — Liberty Schilpp and her daughter, Alyia Vasquez, have tested their prowess for years at the spelling contest held during OysterFest at the Wellfleet Public Library. This year, both mother and daughter prevailed, taking the bee’s two top prizes.
Ed Miller, the Provincetown Independent’s editor who is host of the annual bee, said that he has to work a little harder each year to update his list with new spelling words. All the words in this bee are related in some way to shellfish, aquaculture, marine or coastal ecology, seafood, or the natural environment of Outer Cape Cod.
The Littlenecks (age 12 and under) opened the show. Alyia, a seventh-grader at Nauset Regional Middle School, won the top prize in the division by correctly spelling “constable” with barely a hesitation.
Gemma Sloan, a nine-year-old fourth-grader from Port Murray, N.J., took second place, followed by Niev Witnauer, 12, of Wellfleet in third place.
Schilpp was one of 15 contestants in the Quahogs division (13 and up). She edged out others from as far away as San Francisco by correctly spelling “hyacinth.”
Bryan Giudicelli of Boston and Nico Sloan, a 13-year-old eighth-grader from Port Murray, N.J., battled it out for several rounds in a runoff for second place, correctly spelling words including “volute,” “synergy,” and “benthos.” Giudicelli eventually took second prize and Nico third when he missed on “pinniped.”
Nico is the older brother of Gemma, who competed in the Littlenecks division. Clearly the Sloans will be a family to reckon with if they return for next year’s bee.
Two young women from off Cape who arrived at the library just in time to join the Quahogs round after apparently indulging in some of the OysterFest’s liquid refreshments did not make it past the first round, misspelling the words “carcass” and “pincer.” —EM
