Shuck Yeah: OystoberFest returns to Ginter Park this Saturday

OystoberFest, Richmond’s long-running oyster roast and community festival, returns to Historic Ginter Park on Saturday, October 4, from noon to 6 p.m. The event, presented this year by The Cowart Mortgage Team, benefits St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church and its more than 40 outreach ministries.

Festival-goers can enjoy oysters prepared three ways—raw, steamed, or fried—as well as oyster po’ boys with housemade remoulade, brats, hot dogs, hush puppies, fries, and desserts. Food and drinks are purchased with tickets ($1 per ticket).

The drink menu includes beers from Sierra Nevada, Harp, Bells, Sam Adams, and more, plus Guinness and Guinness Zero, along with cider, wine, sodas, and Surfside vodka tea lemonades. Wines are supplied by sponsor Country Vintner.

Live music will run throughout the day with sets from Sugar B’s, Mid, Wrong Worshippers, and headliners Lazlo closing out the evening. Families can also take advantage of a Kids’ Zone, featuring inflatables, face painting, and activities (an all-day pass costs six tickets).

Admission to the festival is free, with a suggested $2 donation at the gate. Guests arriving by bike can take advantage of BikeWalk RVA’s “we-pay-you” bike valet, which gives riders $2 in tickets per bicycle.

As in past years, all discarded shells will be collected by the Oyster Shell Recycling Program through VCU’s Rice Rivers Center, which uses them to help restore oyster beds in Virginia waterways.

OystoberFest takes place rain or shine at St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church, 3602 Hawthorne Avenue in Northside.