If you love oysters, there’s only one place you ought to be from September 26-28 and that’s the Galway International Oyster and Seafood Festival in Ireland. Judging by previous festivals, more than 100,000 oysters will be consumed and more than €6 million will change hands during three days of feasting, drinking and partying.
As a former festival chairperson, John Holland, once said: “You need stamina and a good liver to enjoy all of the events.” Indeed you do.
I was lucky enough to be at the festival in 2009 and not only were the oysters an entirely different experience – the Galway oysters are native ones, larger and with an earthier taste than we are accustomed to in Australia – but the festivities were also an entirely different experience. For starters, there was the chair dancing.
Never before have I seen a couple of hundred people dressed in ball gowns and dinner suits, dancing on their chairs and twirling their napkins in the air. And that was at the start of the evening, before the wine started flowing. Mind you, there had already been plenty of oysters and Guinness consumed in the run-up to the gala ball that is the festival’s signature event.
County Galway claims to have the best oyster beds in Ireland, thanks to its unpolluted waters. The festival evolved from modest beginnings in 1954, when a local hotel manager thought it would be a good way of filling his empty hotel.
It is now one of the world’s most famous festivals. A highlight of the program is the World Oyster Opening Championship, drawing competitors from all over the world. Each has to shuck 30 oysters in the shortest time. There’s also a parade, cooking demonstrations, a seafood trail, live music and street parties.
The Irish know how to party. Even on a Sunday night in Galway, we found loads of bars offering wonderful live music until the wee hours – amazing for a town of 70,000 people.
For more information, visit www.galwayoysterfestival.com and www.ireland.com