 "Photo: Chad Simmons / THE DAILY GAMECOCK")
Did you attend the 14th annual South Carolina Oyster Festival yesterday? If you didn’t, shucks!
The festival was held at the Robert Mills House and the Hampton-Preston Mansion. The normally quiet area was filled with people enjoying the good weather and great company. It was flourishing with excitement from live music, over 5,000 pounds of live oysters and inflatable children’s rides.
The Oyster Festival is an annual South Carolina tradition that benefits the Historic Columbia Foundation. According to the Historic Columbia Foundation’s Web site, the festival is Columbia’s largest outdoor oyster roast. Guests had the option of steamed or fried oysters along with traditional foods such as hamburgers and hotdogs. There was also an assortment of beer and wine, as well as many different kinds of soft drinks for kids.
Sunday’s event was truly a family affair.
“The festival is great. I can bring all my kids here and we always have a good time,” said Sharon Peterson, an annual visitor of the Oyster Festival.
There are many people like Peterson that keep coming back every year, prepared with lawn chairs, blankets and strollers. At the event there were plenty of things entertaining for kids such as inflatable moon-bounces, clowns and tours of the historic venue. The free tours ran from noon to 4 p.m.
Along with the great food and family activities, there were also popular local bands playing.
The Blue Dogs are a popular band from Charleston, who made their third Oyster Festival appearance this year. Another notable appearance was from Woodwork Roadshow, who mix together traditional and acoustic music. Other bands included Tom Hall and the Plowboys, who had more of a folk flavor as well as The Blue Iguanas, a local bluegrass group.
“The music is what I liked most about the festival. This is my first time going, and I was really impressed,” said Ken Myers. “Along with the food and the good weather, today was a great day”.
And the weather could not have been better for the festival. After a week of solid rain, temperatures reached 76 degrees, and many said this is why they had an especially good turnout.
“I wanted to get out of my house after a week of solid rain and cold weather. I don’t know how it cleared up in time, but it turned out to be a beautiful day,” said Peterson.
So for next year, be sure to mark your calendars, because the festival organizers have no plans of slowing down. Don Smather, a worker at the event said, “next year we want to make this even bigger — more food, more bands and more people.”
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