Get ready to shuck and swallow at the 21st annual Arcata Main Street's Oyster Festival from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on June 18, 2011 at the Arcata Plaza. The Oyster Festival highlights and celebrates the plump and sweet Kumamoto oyster from Humboldt and Arcata bays by pairing of all-you-can-eat barbecued oysters and award-winning, local microbrews from Lost Coast Brewing Company and Mad River Brewing Company.
In addition to the grilled mollusks and frosty beverages, the event also features performances by S.F. old-school funk band Vinyl; Humboldt's own Tom Petty tribute band, Full Moon Fever; and local reggae-roots band Woven Roots. If that's not enough to draw you to the historic plaza on June 18, the festival will also feature a rock-climbing wall and mechanical bull from North Coast Adventure Centers and will be located in the Pacific Outfitters parking lot.
In between the eating, drinking and slurping, KWPT 100.3 FM &102.7 FM "The Point" presents a Shuck & Swallow competition, where four-time defending champions Aidan Semingson (the shucker) and Conor Eckholm (the swallower) try to win their fourth-straight gold Shuck & Swallow belt. This dream team can shuck and eat more than 35 raw oysters in five minutes and is looking for some suitable challengers this year.
The event also features the Oyster Calling contest hosted by one of the most familiar faces in Humboldt County television, Dave Silverbrand. Participants try to yell out what an oyster call would sound like if the oyster were to ask all his friends to join him at the Oyster Festival . There's also an oyster-food judging contest where the winners will receive a special award from recycled glass makers Fire & Light. A panel of hand-picked judges will get a chance to taste all the raw oyster entries on Friday night, before the festival at Jacoby's Storehouse. This year, the raw oyster champions will be announced at 12:30 p.m., so event goers will be able to try these award-winning oysters during the festival.
If you're bringing the whole family, a play area for the kids will be between Eighth and F & G streets. We'll have waxtivities, balloon making and Shantaram the magician.
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