Philly’s Largest Oyster Festival, ShuckFest Returns Featuring 12 of the Area’s Best Oyster Companies & Live Entertainment

When it comes to oysters in Philly, Oyster House is usually always at the top of everyone’s list. Well, the city’s favorite oyster spot is bringing back its annual oyster festival and shucking competition, ShuckFest.

This year’s ShuckFest will take place on Sunday, June 1 from noon to 3:30 p.m. at Liberty Point, located at the Independence Seaport Museum on Penn’s Landing, overlooking the Delaware River. Tickets for ShuckFest cost $80 a piece, and will go live on Tuesday, April 29th at noon at oysterhousephilly.com.

ShuckFest is Philadelphia’s largest oyster festival which features the area’s best regionally raised oysters and farms while celebrating the local oyster industry.

Entry into ShuckFest includes a meet-and-greet and tastings from 12 local New Jersey-based oyster growers, oyster shucking tutorials from the experts, outdoor games for kids, live music throughout the event from Gypsy Wisdom, and the event’s culminating oyster shucking competition. There will also be raffle tickets available, with winning prizes including a gift card from Sea Philly, and dinner for two at Oyster House.

The oyster shucking competition will feature a dozen local seafood industry professionals competing for a grand cash prize. Competitors will be graded on speed and accuracy by the judging panel, which includes Chef Randy Rucker of River Twice/Little Water, Chef Eli Kulp of the Delicious City Philly Podcast, and Phila and Rachel Lorn of Mawn. Penalties will be given to competitors for presentation fouls such as broken shells, cut oysters, or not fully detaching the oysters from their shells. Among the local oyster farmers on-hand will be Sweet Amalia Oyster Farm, Cape May Salt Oyster Farm, Brigantine Oyster Company, Barnegat Oyster Collective, and more.

“Last year’s ShuckFest was such a major success after we expanded it to one of Philly’s biggest venues, and we’re looking forward to another year hosting it at Liberty Point,” said third generation Oyster House owner Sam Mink. “Bringing back Eli Kulp and bringing in some of Philly’s best chefs and restaurant owners to judge this competition is very exciting for us, and we just hope for another beautiful day with a packed house and all of the region’s best oyster farmers.”

Attendees must purchase tickets in advance. Children under 10 who accompany adults can enter for free. Proceeds from ticket sales will benefit two local environmental non-profits: Partnership for the Delaware Estuary Inc.; and The Jetty Rock Foundation. The event takes place rain or shine. Sponsors for this year’s event include Samuels Seafood Co., along with Barnegat Oyster Collective.