The Lowcountry Oyster Festival, which annually brings thousands of seafood fans to swallow oyster snipers and peel shoulder to shoulder, will take place as planned in January, the Lowcountry Hospitality Association announced this week.
Although state officials allowed the organizers to admit 7,000 people to the event, which required an exemption from executive order by limiting mass meetings to 250 participants, council chairman Jonathan Kish said his group had decided to limit the crowd to 31 from January to 5,000 people.
In a typical year, the Lowcountry Oyster Festival would attract 13,000 people, says Kish.
“Since we are a charitable organization and this is our only fundraiser, this event determines whether we will be able to help our local and regional charitable efforts,” says Kish about the justification for continuing with the standard program, despite rising fees. of COVID -19 across the state.
He adds: “If we decide to cancel the event due to COVID, (we) will refund 100 percent of the cost of a ticket … This should give our customers the comfort that they are not at risk of buying a ticket in advance” .
The Southeastern Wildlife Exposition also announced this week that it plans to move forward with its February 2021 event, albeit at 25 percent capacity. The Charleston Wine + Food Festival, which usually takes place in Marion Square weeks after SEWE vacates it, canceled its March 2021 event this summer.
Kish says the Lowcountry Hospitality Association, an arm of the Charleston Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, is implementing several security measures to increase social distance.
For example, the group is setting up several retail stalls at Boone Hall Plantation & Gardens instead of a central stall. It also eliminated cash transactions, allowing to dispense with a 1,600-square-foot stall that usually sets up for cash processing.
“As we are saving all of that space, we are dividing it so that our customers can have their own personal space,” says Kish.
But for the most part, the event will remain intact: the peeling and eating competitions are scheduled to start at noon and ticket holders will have access to a food court and children’s area.
Participants are invited to wear masks, but the event’s website clarifies that the expectation does not apply if they are “enjoying oysters or cold beer” in what is advertised as the largest oyster festival in the world.
Reach Hanna Raskin at 843-937-5560 and follow her on Twitter @hannaraskin.