Wellfleet on the Half Shell

Wellfleet on the Half Shell

An enthusiastic crowd gathers in Wellfleet, Mass., as contestants prepare for the start the town’s annual Oyster Shuck-Off. "This is waaaaay outside the shell," jokes Eric Williams, emcee of the oyster-shucking competition.

Each October, the shuck-off stands as the signature event of the Wellfleet OysterFest, a yearly celebration of the town’s most famous export—the Wellfleet oyster.

The timed competition tests the speed with which contestants part two-dozen oysters, all locally donated, from their shells. Aproned and gloved, the competitors battle two at a time, each with their own shucking style. The shucked oysters are then sold to the crowd to benefit Wellfleet Shellfish Promotion and Tasting (SPAT), the non-profit organization that hosts the festival.

Oystering has deep roots in Wellfleet (pop. 2,749), where it’s estimated that more than 1 million of the mollusks are usually harvested each year. In fact, when explorer Samuel de Champlain landed on outer Cape Cod in 1606, he called the area Port au Huitres, or Oyster Port. Today, the community, where bed & breakfasts and art galleries abound, is characterized by its open space. The Cape Cod National Seashore—a 43,605-acre national park—and Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary surround about two-thirds of the town’s land area.

Yet Wellfleet’s claim to fame is still its oysters, which are renowned the world over for their unique flavor. "We’ve got one of the best oysters in the world," says Andy Koch, local shellfish constable. "It’s real important to this town."

Residents say their oysters are special because of the area’s colder waters, higher salinity and cleansing tides. The oysters are picked from the wild, gathered by dragger boats and, more commonly these days, farm-raised.

Oyster farmers begin with tiny oyster seed, known as spat. The young oysters are dropped to the bottom of the sea and within three weeks glue themselves to rocks or cultch—shucked shells that the town dumps into local estuaries. Once the oysters grow to 1/2-inch, they are placed in mesh bags for protection against predators. The bags and oysters are regularly cleaned, and the oysters are harvestable when they reach 3 inches in length.

"I always liked gardening," says Jim O’Connell, an aquaculturist who harvests about 100,000 oysters and 600,000 clams a year. "This is like an aqua-garden." He says it’s important to give oysters space to grow. "They do better when they have more room. It’s like carrots in a garden. If you thin them, they’ll grow better."

Wellfleet has the largest aquaculture industry in the state, says Koch, who enforces regulations that limit catch and the harvest locales of draggers and pickers. Aquaculturists, however, as private business owners, are limited only by their tolerance for hard work and patience, as Wellfleet oysters can take up to three years to grow to their harvestable length.

Celebrating the local oyster was the brainchild of residents Lisa Brown and Becky Rosenberg. The two organized the first festival in 2001, which took place on the town wharf the weekend after Columbus Day. Only 350 people partied at that inaugural OysterFest, but, in 2004, more than 8,000 gathered for three days of festivities.

Organizers estimate that at least $5,000 raised during OysterFest will go toward grants awarded for projects promoting the local shellfish industry, including scholarships for students who pursue shellfishing careers.

"It’s one thing to throw a great party, but we wanted to make sure it amounted to something," Brown says. "Education is a really important piece to the festival. We want to give back to our community, to our kids and our shellfishing industry."

For Brown, the festival—scheduled for Oct. 14 to 16—is a fitting celebration of Wellfleet and its immutable connection to the sea. "Wellfleet oystering and shellfishing has been going on around here for hundreds of years," she says. "The aquaculture business is one of the main staples of our town, and Wellfleet oysters are famous. They’re the preferred oyster in the world, and we’re proud of that."

Visit www.wellfleetoysterfest.org or call (617) 577-8098 to learn more.

Gayle Goddard-Taylor is a frequent contributor to American Profile.

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