We went to Wellfleet for their annual OysterFest. We had heard of it for years, but never attended. This year I made it a priority; I visited the website (link above) and prioritized the many events and talks, and noted vendors I wanted to see. We had been warned that it draws a big crowd, so we planned to get there early.

It was mobbed!

I have never seen crowds like that on the Cape, not even in P-town in July, and especially not in October. But everyone was well-behaved and the event was very well organized. There were plenty of trash containers, and extra buckets for recycling oyster shells, of which there were many. There were also plenty of workers emptying the trash and keeping up with it pretty well.  

Best of Show had to go to the oysters. The Fest really is all about Wellfleet's prized bivalves, and there were at least a dozen tables set up with crews from various oyster farms shucking as fast as they could, trying to keep up with demand. Those guys were fast, but the crowds were slurpling them up fast, too.

I enjoyed a lecture about knowing what fish you are buying. It was by a trio from NOAA, who explained why local is best, and showed us their hugely informative and fun fishwatch site.

There were plenty of other goodies, including cotton candy, kettle korn, and other fair fare. There were many other vendors, too.

My favorite vendor was Cape Cod Cranberry Harvest, a pair of jellymakers from Harwich. They had samples of 22 different cranberry jellies and pepper jellies, all different and well-made. I bought a sweet White Cranberry Jelly that I plan to use in some holiday baking to be determined, and I bought a savory Cranberry-Rosemary Jelly that I plan to glaze chicken breasts with tonight, and try out on some winter squash, too.

After the OysterFest we went up to Provincetown for dinner at Bubala's. It was a gorgeous late afternoon with perfect light, and I got some fine photos of the Provincetown fishing fleet. After hearing the NOAA law-enforcement guy talk about busting a Boston distributor for selling Chinese pollock as Canadian cod, I was glad to see local boats in the water!