Yesterday as I was driving down the road to Buzzy’s Country Store, I saw a sign advertising this weekend’s Oyster Festival.
Later on I had a couple of visitors in the Store who were here staying in one of Peggy’s rentals so they could attend the festival.
Shown here on the right is Sal Sunseri from New Orleans. He is here because one of his employees is entered into the Oyster Shucking Contest. Paul White (on the left) was also in the Store at the time and he is one of the designated shuckers at the festival. I’m glad Paul was there because he was good at informing Sal of all things related to the oyster festival.
Sal informed us that he is owner of the P and J Oyster Shucking House in the French Quarter. It is the oldest shucking business in America and was founded in 1860. Great story of how it has been a family-based business throughout its operations. The following is an excerpt from their website
Another reason Sal is attending the Oyster Festival is to make note of what criteria is being used to judge the shucking event. Since St. Mary’s hosts the National Shucking Championship with the winner going on to represent the U.S. at the International Contest, Sal noted that he wanted to ensure that their New Orleans event is consistent rule-wise.
Here is a video from one of New Orleans’ previous events You can see Sal speaking at the 1:15 mark. (I think he is wearing the same shirt that he has on in my Buzzy photo above.) If you see him today at the Oyster Festival, tell him you recognize him from the Buzzyblog.