Monday, Nov. 16, 2009

Fine day for oysters, and a festival

Annual street party draws a crowd to historic homes

More than 4,000 pounds of oysters met up with 2,200 hungry people Sunday at downtown Columbia's 14th annual Oyster Festival.

The oysters lost.

"These are good, good, cooked to perfection, and not too dry," pronounced Johnny Tatum, 28, with a smile. A sales rep, he stood at a long table, downing oyster after oyster Sunday, washing them down with gulps of Diet Pepsi and plopping the shells into a bucket.

"Some people love them; some people hate them," said Capi Gallier, 36, a registered nurse, who grew up loving them in Murrells Inlet. Her oysters were slathered with Tabasco sauce.

"Oysters are weird, man," quipped folk-rock-blues singer Danielle Howle to a reporter after finishing a set of songs on a sprawling lawn. She was one of seven professional acts that provided music to eat oysters by.

It was all part of this year's oyster festival, held amid the gardens of two neighboring historic downtown homes.

It was a day of sunshine and balmy light breezes, a perfect day - unless you happened to be an oyster.

So many of the slippery gray shellfish critters were consumed with beer or soft drinks that BaWa Oyster Co. sold the last of its oysters well before the festival's 7 p.m. end.

No matter. You could get a fix of other Southern eats - corn dogs, boiled peanuts and barbecue.

"We've been slammed all day," enthused Dan Huntley, 55, co-owner of the Blythewood restaurant Smoke, which had a stand at the festival. By 3 p.m., Huntley and his partner, lawyer Tom Hall, had served up 700 pork barbecue sandwiches at $5 each.

Across Blanding Street, closed to car traffic, a happy Chris Hindly, 35, ladled boiled peanuts into bags for an unending stream of customers.

"We've sold 250-300 pounds of boiled peanuts," Hindly said with pride at mid-afternoon.

Hindly - whose company is called The Peanut Man - said he had never heard the old adage that "boiled peanuts are the poor man's oyster."

"But I like that," he said. "I do."

For many, eating oysters is a family affair.

"I love these oysters," said Harold Boyd, 52, a radiologist technician, who came with his wife, Marianne, 37, their sons Kamari 9, and Jacobi, 10, and Alani, 7.

All except Alani, who has a seafood allergy, were eating bucket after bucket of oysters.

It was a dangerous affair.

Oyster eaters open the shellfish with a short, flat knife, called a shucker.

"Wearing a glove makes me feel a little safer," said Katie Hudson, 23, of Columbia, who wore a garden glove on her left hand.

David Kilgore, 54, downing oysters with son, Devon, a Dreher High School sophomore, explained how to open an oyster.

"The back joint is the easiest way. You stick your knife in and twist," Kilgore said. Once the knife is in the oyster, you twist the blade back and forth until the oyster opens.

"You can stab yourself with the shucker, but you can also cut yourself with the shell. Shells have some sharp edges," said Kilgore, an oyster expect.

Robin Waites of the Historic Columbia Foundation, a lead sponsor of the event, couldn't believe the turnout. Last year, at a location near the State Fairgrounds and in rainy weather, not many people came.

This year, with the downtown location and balmy day, more than 2,200 people showed up.

"We were expecting half that many," she said. "This was amazing. The weather, the landscape, the oysters, the beer and music - it all came together."

Get The State newspaper delivered to your home. Click here to subscribe.