Oyster Stroll Returns!

Oyster Stroll

Each year, The Central Region chapter partners with the City of Westminster to host their annual Oyster Stroll Festival.  Based on the overwhelming success of last year’s festival, of nearly 2500 people in attendance, you’re going to want to save the date of Saturday, October 8th for our 2nd Annual Oyster Stroll. The strolling and oyster sampling will unfold starting at noon.  There will be raw oysters as well as oyster stews, wood-fired oysters and fried oysters all aimed at promoting sustainable oyster aquaculture farms of the Chesapeake Bay.  The city is providing live music stages throughout the historic downtown to keep the party atmosphere in full swing, including a stage in this year’s Beer Garden in the center of town.   Bill Goldsborough, Director of Fisheries, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, will be giving a presentation on Oyster Restoration & the use of Reef Balls seeded with oyster spat.  Throughout town, the Carroll County Public Schools will have displays on various aspects of CCA’s Living Reef Action Campaign’s oyster restoration as well as shell recycling and reef ball construction demonstrations.  All promising to double the size of our festival!

 

The festival is designed to educate the surrounding communities about CCA’s Living Reef Action Campaign and the benefits of the Chesapeake Eastern Oyster.  The event also celebrates the growing list of farmers who have created sustainable aquaculture farms throughout Maryland and Virginia while helping raise funds for oyster restoration and educational programs within the state’s public school systems.   Last year, nearly a dozen oyster farmers were present, shucking their finest farm raised oysters and providing festival goers with a real sense of tasting varieties throughout the different regions of the bay.

 

The Oyster Stroll donates a portion of its proceeds to CCA Maryland, who together with the Carroll County Public Schools, use the funds to create more oyster based curriculum and fund hands on STEM learning activities designed to create three dimensional reef structures that will ultimately be seeded with new oyster spat.

 

Save the date and travel out to the historic Main Street of downtown Westminster, Md for this year’s Oyster Stroll on October 8, 2015 from Noon – 5pm.  For more information, Contact Missie Wilcox, City of Westminster at 410.456.0397 or mwilcox@westgov.com or Rick Elyar, CCA Maryland at 410.977.3782 or relyar@ccamd.org