Oyster Festival serves up shucking good fare
Around 10,000 people attended the Narooma Oyster Festival on the weekend.
Mid morning the queue for entry was about 100m long.
Over 100 smiling volunteers helped bring the event to life with around 66,500 oysters consumed, not counting all around town and the region. There was also a plethora of seafood stalls, distillers, brewers and crafts on offer.
Festival organisers said “A huge thank you to everyone who came along to celebrate the Rock Oyster, our wonderful community, travellers from near and far, the producers, chefs, more than 100 volunteers, and of course, the farmers.
We’ll be sharing more stories and photos soon, but here are a few highlights you might have missed:
Our new Australian Oyster Shucking Champion is Zoe Jacobson, taking out the title with the best combined score for speed and presentation from an incredibly talented field of 17 competitors. Hailing from Tasmania, where she holds consecutive State titles, Zoe also won the Women’s Championship. Congratulations to Sally McLean (Jim Wild’s Oysters, Shoalhaven) for silver and Sue McIntyre (Broadwater Oysters, Pambula) for bronze.
After a few years of coming close, Graeme Rush (Burrill Lake) not only made his first final, but took the win. Congratulations Rushy. Greg Carton (Broadwater Oysters), our 2025 champion, placed second, with Dom Boyton (Merimbula Gourmet Oysters) taking bronze.
The honour of Australia’s Biggest Oyster went to Pride of the Clyde at 2.66kg, now happily back in its briny bed on Bernie and Sharryn Connell’s leases on the Clyde River.
Save the date for the next Festival: May 7–9, 2027”
