As I write this, we are officially about 36 hours into the fall. You remember that day, don’t you? It had just rained for three days straight, and we got our first taste of something resembling cool morning temperatures. Glorious. Ironically, it was the also the day I had a chat with Joe Cain, special events coordinator at the Island Recreation Center.
If you’ve lived on the island for any length of time, then you very likely know everything they do at the Rec Center year round to raise money to help area children. Their facility is spectacular. Obviously, there are recreational opportunities for the island’s kids, but also educational. Pre-school and after-school programs are a big part of what they do.
Their events year round are generally fundraisers; it takes more than a few bucks to make their world go round. Maybe their biggest event of the year is coming up in a few weeks, certainly their most popular. The Hilton Head Island Oyster Festival is back to full speed in 2021.
“Last year we had it at Honey Horn,” Cain said. “It was much smaller obviously. We had about 200 people.” That’s a far cry from the thousands they entertained in 2019, but everyone understands why that happened. We were lucky to see a 2020 version of the event at all.
That’s all behind us. Time to look forward to what promises to be another great event in November 2021. “We are moving Saturday’s main event to Celebration Park,” Cain said. “We think that will lead to a larger turn out. It’s closer to the beach, and it’s the south end of the island.”
Cain said the Oyster Festival has been ready for a larger footprint for some time, but options on the island were limited. Yes, there’s the ever-popular Honey Horn location, but the sentiment was you needed to at least see water or otherwise be near water when hosting an oyster festival.
Make sense to me.
If you’ve attended before, you are in for more of the same stuff we’ve enjoyed in the past—live music, oysters, other seafood items, food for the kids in a family atmosphere that rivals anything you can attend on Hilton Head Island. All of that is Saturday, November 13, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., at Celebration Park.
Friday night, November 12, from 5 to 8 p.m., there’s a smaller all-you-can-eat event at Shelter Cove Community Park. It’s a nice way to enjoy a beautiful sunset and some oysters, Lowcountry boil, or pulled pork. Food will be provided by Roy’s Place Catering.
Cain said that by the end of the weekend, they’ll pull about eight tons of oyster shells away from the festival. They are taken to an island location where they are required to dry out in the sun for six weeks. Then they go right back into the water off the island’s shore to get back to work.
Either way, if you love oysters, it’s a great weekend for you. If you like contributing to the bottom line of one of the island’s best non-profits, well then it’s a great weekend for you as well.
The Hilton Head Oyster Festival will be held November 12 and 13 on Hilton Head Island. You can find more information now at hiltonheadoysterfestival.com.
