OysterFest return draws thousands

Sunny skies and temperatures that pushed 80 degrees greeted thousands of seafood, music and beer enthusiasts who descended on Shelton’s Sanderson Field on Sept. 30 through Oct. 2 for the return of OysterFest after a two-year hiatus due to COVID.

The Shelton Skookum Rotary Club, which has staged the event since 1982, was tabulating attendance numbers as the Journal was going to press. The group estimates about 11,000 patrons passed through the main gate, which does not include 450 people who camped in RVs at the site or the thousands of vendors and volunteers, Jerry Obendorf, the group’s president, wrote in an email to the Journal.

“The spirit of the community was definitely present this weekend,” Obendorf wrote. “It was quite meaningful to see old acquaintances renewed over an oyster and a beer.”

Bob Miller, this year’s Grand Old Oyster, said this year’s festival offered more activities for children, including offerings inside the Shelton YMCA tent that proved popular.

“Without volunteers, we could not put on this event, so it’s a huge thank you to them,” he wrote. “We had about 250 volunteers supporting the Skookum Rotary activities and over 600 more supporting all the nonprofit food vendors and exhibitors.”

Miller added, “Mason County is a great community to live in. OysterFest is another example of that.”

The Boy Scouts took over the sales of the coconut shrimp from Mason County Senior Activities Association, and sold 2,400 portions Saturday alone, Obendorf wrote.

“The seniors shared their recipe, offered suggestions for production and serving and basically mentored the new kids on the block,” he wrote. “So the torch has been passed to a younger generation and we should have coconut shrimp for the next 40 years.”