When we stepped outside of one of the nicest Virginia luxury hotels, frost crunched underneath our boots. It was a very crisp November morning, and the sky was clear, which promised that we would have a great day at the Urbanna Oyster Festival. The festival was originally called the Urbanna Days to help promote the local economy, but it became so successful and changed each year that they finally had to rename it. This years Urbanna Oyster Festival estimates about 80 thousand people to show over the two days of the event.

We arrived about 9am on the second day of the Festival; the first day started on a Friday. The festival is a ‘pay-as-you-go’ event, meaning that there’s no entry fee. There were about 200 vendor stalls selling everything from local crafts, food, books, clothing, art, and even boats and RV’s! During the festival, the entire town of Urbanna is closed off to vehicle traffic, so that all the vendors can set up their stalls all along the streets. In between sets of stalls are stages with with either bands play or dance performances unfold. Many of the festival goers arrive by boat, since Urbanna is bordered by both sides by rivers.

The highlight of the festival is the oyster shucking contest. The winner of the professional division gets to participate in the World Oyster Championship in Galway, Ireland. But, we found the amateur division to be the funniest to watch. Of course, we had to try every way the food vendors prepared the oysters, from raw, fried, roasted, to stewed and steamed. I believe we were actually sloshing our way around after our 11th sample of oysters. So, we had to fill that sloshing with crab cakes and seafood fritters.

Unfortunately, all this eating made us over-stuffed. We ended up walking back to our car and driving back to our hotel, burping all the way. But, it was so worth it, even though we didn’t leave a good impression with all the people we came in contact with.