City to kick off inaugural oyster festival

Blaine is about to have an oyster festival.

The Blaine Tourism Advisory Committee (BTAC) recently approved a motion for the city to start planning a downtown oyster festival for Saturday, October 8. The festival will bring attention to Drayton Harbor’s water quality  and oyster farm and will feature an oyster cook-off, shucking contest, outdoor beer garden, family-friendly games and live music.

“This is all pretty new still so details are still coming together,” said Alex Wenger, the city’s tourism and economic development coordinator. “I’m excited to have a festival this fall. Hopefully, it will be good weather and we can really connect with the community and talk about clean water, clean harbors and celebrate our local oyster farm.”

Drayton Harbor Oyster Company (DHO) will work with a team of judges to put on an oyster cook-off at H Street Plaza from local restaurants, Wenger said. DHO will host an oyster slurping and shucking contest where competitors will try to down as many oysters as they can in a limited time. H Street Plaza will have a beer and wine garden and DHO will sell raw and BBQ oysters.

Kids activities and educational booths on water quality will be set up at G Street Plaza. The newly-established Blaine Arts Council is expected to have nautical-themed fine arts exhibits and sales, Wenger said. He also encourages festival-goers to arrive early to receive t-shirts.The Bilongo quintet, whose lead singer is Blaine’s very own Sabrina Gomez-Vannelli, will headline the festival with its jazz music 3-6 p.m. 

DHO is expected to host land-based tours of its oyster farm at the end of Jorgensen Pier, Wenger said. 

The festival idea came about in May after discussions between DHO and Wenger, who then went to BTAC with the proposal. BTAC approved the festival as the city’s priority project, which allocated it $2,600, during the August 23 BTAC meeting. BTAC unanimously voted to ask the city for an additional $1,000 to cover educational materials and outreach, which the city is funding through its tourism budget, Wenger said. Blaine Chamber of Commerce is also helping put on the festival.

“We’re really excited about our inaugural oyster festival. It’s been really well received,” Wenger said. “We’re trying to get a festival atmosphere going this year, and hopefully we can continue it next year.”