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of thousands of pounds of mollusks, a collaboration of
restaurants and caterers from across the Lowcountry'
THE \TEATHER CHILLS'
excitement builds. A favorite
S
"There are probably at least 40 guys back there cooking
oysters," Kish said. "It's a big undertaking, but they love it.
They live for it. Just to watch the cooking that goes on is
an amazing feat. It's never done on that grand of a scale'"
winter-season event aPProaches'
The Lowcountry Oyster Festival,
believed to be the world's largest
oyster roast' marks its 29th Year
on Jan' 29, 2012' Boone Hall
Planration ofT Long Point Road hosts the event, but
the Cnarle ston Restaurant Association organizes the
annuai
\When people arrive at the festival, they line up to
purchase oysters by the bucket, as they will do continually throughout the day. Since the event always takes
place between late January and early February, Mother
-st.
y't Courier article
Flasn back to January 1984. A News
prorno:ed rhe inaugural event, held Jan' 14' Interestingly,
the day proved to be quite similar
b
Nature can play tricks'
"sometimes it's raining. Sometimes it's cold. People
still come out," said Kish. "They dress up with their
boots and their heavy coats. They come out no matter
what the weather is,"
to the present-day festival - with
oyster eating and recipes'
shucking,
conresrs lbr oyster
Year after year, the big draws remain the oyster-shuck-
There r.'as live music by the Charleston Bluegrass Society
and. olsrer meals served up by local restaurateurs' Organizers exPected 2,500 visitors'
\ori', 28 years later, the festival draws an estimated
11.000 guests on the back lawn of Boone Hall Plantation,
rhere to enjoy the tasty creatures
ofthe
ing and oyster-eating contests' Thousands will poise
themselves over the oysters' armed with shucking knives,
and go to work prying open shell after shell and savoring
the meaty morsel inside. Almost as important, about 10
restaurants serve up a variety offoods seafood and beyond. There is also a beer
garden, a wine vendor and entertainment.
The oyster recipe competition is held
at Tiident Technical College's Culinary
Institute Palmer campus in downtown
Charleston. Kish actually won the first
sea.
Eariy on Jan.29, well before the guests
show up, the oysters will arrive. Two tractor trailers will pull onto the plantation,
carrying about 65,000 pounds ofoysters'
"They're absolutely amazed by the
amount of oysters," explained Steve Kish,
a partner at 82 Queen in Charleston and
chairman of the board of the Charleston
contest
there is an admission charge, which, at Press
time, organizers said would be between $ 12 and $ t 5 for
2012.lhatmoney goes well beyond paying for the festival'
Restaurant Association'
Lowcountry waters simply can't handle the demand'
According to Kish, Apalachicola oysters must be imported from Florida to feed the crowd.
Crews will immediately go to work steaming those tens
The Lowcountry Oyster Festival raises funds for local
charities, including the Hollings Cancer Center, the
Frt
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hello to lonqer, thicker loshes, ond goodbye io messy moscoro
with o-ur reloxing, eyelosh extension procedure'
Charleston's
iost
in 1984.
Besides paying for your food and drinks,
experbnced lash stylislsl
t""or.t*,*fb/""rf
Woke Uo Mode Upl Slmplifv ond beoutify your life wiih smeor
proof, sweot-proof mokeup fo,: Eyeliner, Lips, Scor Re-pigmentotion
ond Areolo Restorotion
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27
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the vears'
has been donated through
festival
-commit
Cfr"ri,i., that benefit from the
that it takes
Kish explained
neople power to help out'
uolu"ttti' to pull off the event'
tio
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u".tt to tht to--"nity'
giving- to charity"'
giue back' and we
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supposed'to
said Kish. "Everyone is
our part'
in the restaurant industry do
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boonehalLplantailon'com
uisit www'
-For more information'
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