October 10, 2013 — The Wellfleet OysterFest has reached critical mass. Next weekend (Oct. 19-20) will mark the town's 13th celebration of that briny bivalve, and the party has grown every year.
The inaugural event was in 2001 by Mayo Beach. The idea had been simmering for a while until Lisa Brown and Becky Rosenberg made it reality. Something like 350 people showed up. When the crowd wiped out the food in 20 minutes, organizers knew they were on to something.
While the event has moved up town, and is now so popular that simply moving around is an adventure more resembling a rugby scrum than a stroll in the park, it comes at a time when local shellfishermen are being squeezed.
Vibrio parahaemolyticus bacterium is one problem. It's a virulent, though rare, bacteria that can cause severe diarrhea, vomiting, fever and cramping. In certain immuno-deficient individuals, it can be fatal. Raw shellfish consumption is the most common way humans contact vibrio.
While reported cases have nearly doubled, from 27 last year in the state to 50 reported cases this year — out of about 4,500 cases nationally — it mirrors the rise in oyster popularity.
Production in the fishery has basically doubled in the state in a few years as oyster cache has soared in the big Boston and New York markets. We simply have more oysters than ever, millions of them on the Cape alone.
Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times