OysterFest: 43 years of community engagement

For over four decades “OysterFest” has been a keystone event in Mason County. Although food and drink anchor the festivities, there is much to see and do for families at this celebration that has a profound impact on many local non-profits. So much to be proud of since Dick Oltman pitched the idea in 1982.

A fellow Rotarian and travel agent, Oltman was finishing a Masters Degree in tourism, he proposed to develop a fall community festival for Mason County to compliment the long-standing Forest Festival held in the spring.

Skookum Rotary Club was barely six years old and had experienced a string of hardworking, low profit projects, some of which had lost money. Oltman approached them in the spring of 1982 and suggested they host this new festival that fall.

They agreed to the idea and began in earnest to plan the event. Weather records weren’t as through in 1982, but the engineers in Skookum Rotary found that there was a consistent drop in rainfall the first weekend of October. Thus began the dates for the next 40plus years!

Every participating organization in the event has a vested interest in the success of OysterFest to fund their charitable projects.

OysterFest is a major fundraiser for over thirty local non-profit organizations.

The first OysterFest went beyond expectations. Skookum Rotary hoped that if family and friends of the vendors showed up, they may cover costs. Instead they ran out of tickets at the gate! Vendors saw long lines of hungry patrons, and many had to send volunteers to Shelton for more supplies.

The first 35 years OysterFest was at the Mason County Fairgrounds but in 2012 the facility was closed and OysterFest moved to Sanderson Field.

Art & Photography was included until the event had to move to the present location that has no climate controlled or secure structures. The Cook-off also has since been difficult to manage on the make-shift runway event set up. For many years, Friday before OysterFest was “Kids’ Day.” Mason County 4th graders learned about water quality, safety, ecology, environmental concepts, and health. The school education program was discontinued in 2017.

A major component of the event is the annual Oyster Shucking Competition. Held throughout the weekend, the champion shucker is awarded a trip to the national oyster shucking contest in Leonardtown, Maryland. That winner can compete at the international oyster shucking contest in Galway, Ireland. OysterFest had one of their shuckers go on to compete in Galway, but for the most part shuckers now opt for cash prizes instead of the trip.

There have been many great memories over the years: a skydiver landed on a Mason County Commissioner; drilling a hole in the asphalt to drain a puddle actually let ground water flow in to make the puddle deeper; smoke from forest fires nearly shut the event down; visiting Senator Scoop Jackson got stung by a bee and that made politically news –and there are many more!

Volunteers are the key to this event. Although Skookum Rotary members and their families perform many event duties, other items including parking and setup are hired out to local non-profit groups, thereby leveraging event dollars into the community even more!

Food vendors are all local nonprofits and include Kiwanis, several Boy Scout troops, Senior Activities, church groups, sororities, lodges, scholarship funds and others.

The weekend opens on Friday evening, Oct 4, with fellow Rotary Club, Shelton Rotary hosting OysterFunk, an evening of food and entertainment for those 21 and over. Other local Rotary Clubs participating Saturday and Sunday include Salish Rotary operating the wine tasting and North Mason Rotary serving shrimp melts.

The main event runs Saturday, 10 AM to 6 PM and Sunday 10 AM to 5 PM, October 5 & 6.

Last year included over 10,000 attending, over 400 RV’s camping, a couple thousand volunteers and contributed about $200,000 to local charitable efforts.

Visit oysterfest.org to learn more about the event.