First Long Beach Oyster Fest kicks off Saturday

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The first Long Beach Oyster Festival “Taste of the Sea” event is set to kick off on Oct. 22.

The event will feature three different types of oysters and a clam bar at Jetty Bar & Grill from 1 to 4 p.m. A VIP $40 bracelet includes three hours of Heineken and oysters and clams. Musical guest is Dave Kellan and James “Wolfie” McGrath, and a portion of the proceeds benefits the Long Beach Lightning hockey program.

The event is organized by West End resident Terence Mulligan, who also puts together the annual Wee Craic Festival in Long Beach, a showcase of Irish short films and music, as well as the Rockaway Oyster and Music Festival, now in its second year.

The latter event attracted more than 1,000 people last month, and Mulligan said that he is hoping a similar festival in Long Beach will attract visitors to the city and support local businesses.

“After Sandy, we were thinking of something fun to bring to the community annually here in Long Beach and it’s an economic incentive that brings people into the town,” said Mulligan. “We are starting small, but we have a plan to make this a major festival and grow it over the next 3 to 5 years. We have a film festival on the beach, why not have an oyster and seafood festival? We are also working with the [Long Island Rail Road] to bring people into Long Beach, making the Long Beach Oyster Fest a destination, which is good for local businesses.”

This year’s Long Beach oyster festival is on a much smaller scale than the Rockaway event, though Mulligan said it adds a cultural element to the community.

“We went to the Oyster Bay festival and it was massive and it did not feel like an oyster festival at all, so my wife said to me, You should start one in Long Beach,” he said. “Why do I have to travel to Oyster Bay — why can’t we have one in our backyard? The Rockaway Oyster Fest was a big risk but we sold out two years in a row. Long Beach has huge potential for an annual oyster and seafood festival every October.”

Mulligan said that Saturday’s event includes oysters from Blue Island Shellfish Farms and Naked Cowboy Oysters, which he described as the best in New York. Event organizers are also working with the Billion Oyster Project, an ecosystem and education project aimed at restoring a billion live oysters in New York Harbor.

“They collect all the shells from the festival for the New York Harbor reef project, so it’s a zero-waste event,” Mulligan said.