I know.  Why would someone who dislikes oysters go to such a thing?  Well, we/I was having Festival withdrawal and it just sounded like fun.  This little town must at least quadruple in size during this Volunteer Fire Department fund raiser.  We skipped the main event, the raw oyster eating contests.  The winning guy ate 329 in 5 minutes.  Blech.

We joined the throngs lining the main street for the parade.  It was another small town classic, dozens of fire trucks, the requisite Shriners and politicians, followed by the Oyster King, Queen, princes, little miss oyster, tiny tot oyster and on and on.  I don’t know where they got all those crowns.

In the food tent they had a whole row of guys shucking as fast as they could go just to keep up with the long line of folks anxious to slide down a dozen or so.  Not I (or Kent).  We stuck to the cooked stuff: some wonderful fried Texas coast oysters, and shrimp.

Some fair sounding local bands filled the huge striped tent with waves of country music.  The place was a-jumping.

The second tent was filled with rows of craft booths.  I couldn’t resist looking but did manage not to actually buy anything.

I had a funnel cake.  Overall, the festival experience was quite satisfying.