2022 Boone Hall Oyster Festival - CCA Oyster Recovery Team

2022 CCA Volunteers at Boone Hall

The 2022 Charleston Restaurant Association's signature event called Lowcountry Oyster Festival took place at Boone Hall Plantation on February 6. The gates opened at 10 a.m. for oyster shucking enthusiasts,  and the cloudy skies and cold temps and steady breeze made for perfect outdoors weather all the way through the 5 p.m. closing time. Most guests have a general admission ticket, but their is also a VIP ticket option for those looking to add a full buffet to their menu, in a side venue area. Craft booths and food trucks surrounded the Boone Hall field that hosts the event, and right in the middle is the red flags for CCA, marking their central hub that will collect and recover oyster shells for recycling for the 11th year.

2022 Volunteer T-Shirt

The South Carolina Coastal Conservation Association is based in Columbia, and they have local leadership in the Lowcountry to advance goals of the Topwater Action Campaign like oyster shell recycling. In the past ten years, the numbers behind the CCA efforts continue to grow, just like the S.C. shellfish beds that benefit from this infusion of shell each year. The 2022 CCA presence will include 100 volunteers to gather shucked oysters from every corner of the festival grounds. They have donated 13 dump trailers to SCDNR over the years, at roughly $10K apiece. One special trailer includes a mechanical arm to lift and dump oyster recycling cans at restaurants, and the price for that trailer was closer to $20K. Volunteer organizer Gary Keisler states that 95-percent of CCA funds stay in S.C. and includes lots of oyster recovery equipment donated to SCDNR.

Game Warden Beckett volunteers his entire family

Did you know that most of the oysters sold this day come from Chesapeake Bay? SCDNR will hold the shell for a 6-month quarantine after the event, and then that shell can be added to the S.C. estuary for local oysters to attach to and grow. In that regard, I think its fair to say that this annual event generates a large amount of substrate each year to benefit S.C. oyster beds, and everyone that participates in any way is actually doing their own small part to benefit local natural resources. By the way, Local oysters were also for sale at the Oyster Fest, courtesy of Trey McMillan's oyster company. Right in the middle of the oyster steaming area was local caterer Jamie Westendorf, bringing his entire team to make sure the public does not have to wait long when they are ready to pick up a bucket of oysters to enjoy. 

The Next Generation of Oyster Recycling efforts

To view past blog entries from Boone Hall Oyster Festival click on 2018 - 2014 Guy Harvey Magazine - 2014 - 2011 

To view my article about CCA sinking Barge offshore click Edisto 60

To view past articles I wrote for CCA and TIDE magazine click on 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009