What: Learn about South Jersey’s oyster industry with educational speakers, live music, and unlimited fresh-shucked oysters with your ticket.
When: Saturday, Oct. 18 from 12 to 5 p.m.
Where: Bayshore Center at Bivalve, 2800 High Street, Port Norris
The Bayshore Center at Bivalve (BCB), 2800 High Street, Port Norris will host the 4th annual New Jersey Oyster Festival on Saturday, October 18th from 12 Noon – 5 PM, inviting oyster lovers to enjoy fresh local oysters while celebrating the history and culture of oystering in NJ.
Ticketed entry to the event includes unlimited freshly shucked local oysters on the ½ shell, education speakers with updates on the industry, live music and a commemorative event glass. All proceeds support the Bayshore Center at Bivalve, the non-profit that oversees NJ’s Tall Ship A.J. Meerwald, the Delaware Bay Museum and the historic shipping sheds.
Included with ticket entry – unlimited freshly shucked local oysters! East Point & Graveling Point Oysters from Bivalve Packing and Jersey Shore Salts from Harbor House will be shucked by our BCB volunteer shuckers. Local oyster purveyors including last year’s people’s choice award winner Southern State Oyster Company, Ludlam Bay Oyster Company, McGees Shellfish and Jersey Pearl Oyster Farmers will be on site for questions and tastings. Cape May Salts, Sloop Point, Tuckers Island, Tide Rider, Sapphire Shoal and Whale Creek oysters will participate through Cape Harbor Shellfish.
Additional menu options are available for purchase at the Oyster Cracker Cafe’ including fried oyster and fried flounder sandwiches. Julio’s on Main food truck will have authentic Mexican cuisine available for purchase and Fat Boyz kitchen food truck from Vineland will be serving cheesesteaks and more.
Live music by Danny Paisley and the Southern Grass band will play from 1:30 PM – 4 PM. They play powerful, unadorned, and intense traditional bluegrass. There is no hybrid or genre-bending music here. Their combination of instrumentation and vocals convey the energy and emotion of classic bluegrass and country music. Local musician Steve Byrne will open the event from 12 noon – 1:30 PM. Steve Byrne’s love is Ragtime Blues guitar. His approach is pure and the result is the essence of this most American of music. Funding for NJ Oyster Festival Entertainment has been made possible in part by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts / Department of State and the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners through the Cumberland County Cultural and Heritage Commission.
Education Speakers Series – Hear from the experts, be sure to schedule time to hear the educational speakers located in the Huber Maritime Education Room in the Delaware Bay Museum. Barney Hollinger, a 5th generation Port Norris oysterman will present “State of the Oyster Industry.” Barney serves on the NJ Shellfish Council and State Board of Agriculture, he will reflect on the past year of the oyster industry on the Delaware Bay including farm-raised and wild-caught. Edward “Ned” Gaines will present “Leasing Our Waters for Shellfish.” Gain a historical perspective of the leasing of grounds throughout the entire New Jersey coastline for the use in shellfish cultivation. Paul Coyne will present RU Informed About Oysters? with Haskin Shellfish Research Laboratory. The education speaker series will end with Lucia Osborne, Delaware Bayshore Program Director, “Using Oyster Reefs to Restore the Delaware Bayshore with The American Littoral Society .” Hear about their projects building oyster reefs to protect and restore the Delaware Bayshore. These projects work to clean the water and help to stop the shoreline from washing away.
The following BCB community partners will be onsite with information and hands-on educational activities: The American Littoral Society, Rutgers Haskin Lab, Shell Recycling Program Ambassador NJ DEP Fish & Wildlife and Cumberland County Tourism. Rowan College SJ Clay College will have oyster plates on display. South Jersey Artist Collective will have a live painting activity with a guided nature walk. After you eat and dance, be sure to save some time to participate in a hands-on activity.
Special thanks to our sponsors, who make the New Jersey Oyster festival possible. Home & Heart Realty; Bivalve Packing; Simonson & McClellan; Gentilini Motors; WHIBCO; Harbor House Seafood, LLC.; Century Savings Bank; Rutgers Haskin Shellfish Research Laboratory; Surfside Foods, LLC; Suzzanne Cunningham Realtor; Mints Insurance Agency, Fairfield Pallet Co., Inc.; Hollinger Oyster Company; Cumberland County Improvement Authority “The Authority”; Allen Insurance Company; Miletta Brothers Inc.; and Wheaton Real Estate, LLC.
Tickets to the New Jersey Oyster Festival are $50 per person in advance and $60 the day of the event. The event does sell out, so get your tickets in advance. This is a rain or shine event.
About The Bayshore Center at Bivalve:
The Bayshore Center at Bivalve is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose mission is to advance the understanding of the human impact on New Jersey’s aquatic environment through education, advocacy, and programming. BCB operates the authentically restored 1928 oyster schooner A.J. MEERWALD, New Jersey’s official tall ship, as a hands-on sailing classroom throughout the region. It also operates the Delaware Bay Museum and offers shore-based programs at its campus and the schooner’s home port of Bivalve on the scenic Maurice River in Cumberland County.
For more information, go to www.bayshorecenter.org or contact the Bayshore Center at Bivalve at 856-785-2060 or info@BayshoreCenter.org.
