Shucks! Oyster Festival draws crowds

PASS CHRISTIAN -- A seafood celebration took over Pass Christian’s West Harbor this weekend as the city rolled out its second annual Oyster Festival.

Festivities began Friday, “Oyster eve,” with a beachside seafood boil and cooking contest featuring area chefs. Celebrity chef Andrew Zimmern hosted the boil, which will be featured on MSN and a webisode.

“It’s so beautiful here. We really need to celebrate this,” said Pass Christian Alderman Renee Brooks. “This is what Pass Christian needs.”

This year’s event has grown exponentially from the first. More than 120 vendors and local restaurants are participating, as well as area bands. There are carnival rides, a bungee jump and mechanical rides to keep kids entertained.

“I think (the festival) is excellent. It has that small-town feeling, and it’s something you want to bring the family to,” Pass resident Terri Webb said.

Oysters are a part of many residents’ family history.

Linda Kaye Rudolph, who was selling decorative oyster trees, said the salty shellfish runs in her blood, “My great-grandfather has the first oyster bar in Gulfport in 1927,” she said. “We’ve been eating oysters my whole life.”

Brooks, who is also a festival chairwoman, said when the event started they just wanted everyone to have a good time.

“Now our mission has changed,” she said. “We want to educate people. We want to expose children to the Gulf and all it has to offer.”

To accomplish this, the festival hosted an early-morning fishing rodeo Saturday for kids under 12, and a scholarship competition for area high school juniors.

The festival has also been drawing visitors from surrounding states, and even a few northern snowbirds.

Brooks hopes these visitors will get a new appreciation for Gulf Coast seafood.

“We want to show people that seafood is safe. It’s healthy, it’s nutritious and people need to get back to eating it,” Brooks said.

The Oyster Festival continues today, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at West Harbor.