October 19, 2014 โ A fair amount of teasing was underway Saturday at the white shucking tent of Ian Holmes and Justin Lynch. Holmes and Lynch, both of Wellfleet, were among the dozen oyster vendors at the 14th annual Wellfleet OysterFest. The sun was a noonday high, on the warmish side for October, and a decent-sized line of seemingly hungry people held paper plates and napkins to their chests. They were eying the fresh oysters on open shells.
"Free-range," one shucker yelled out from under the tent.
"Grass-fed," someone else yelled.
"Humanely raised," Holmes followed up. They were joking โ about using standards more typically associated with, say, beef or poultry. Their fare instead was Wellfleet oysters, just shucked, with a squirt of cocktail sauce and a squirt of lemon.
The price was $1.50 for one oyster, $9 for half-dozen and $18 for a dozen.
Alex Emmons of Wellfleet, wearing his favorite straw hat, was shucking his 300th or so oyster. He estimated that he usually shucks about a thousand oysters each day for the two-day festival.
"I don't feel like it's been that busy," Emmons said of Saturday's crowd.
Still, it was pretty busy.
Typically about 25,000 people attend the festival over the two days, according to Michele Insley, executive director of Shellfish Promotion and Tasting (SPAT), which runs the OysterFest. Most of the festival is held in a quarter-mile stretch of Main Street near town hall.
Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times