Thousands upon thousands of oysters will be shucked and eaten this Sunday.
(You can be one of the people eating them, if you so choose. Go here for passes, etc: Oysterfest 2017!)
Meritage, the oyster capital of Minnesota (read more: Minneapolis, here are 5 St. Paul restaurants worth crossing the river for), is hosting Oysterfest for the seventh straight year. This is special for a couple of reasons: 1. That’s a lot of oysters for landlocked Minnesota far from any coast, and 2. The event just gets bigger and better every year, and 2017 promises to be the best of all.
A few things to expect (courtesy of the official website):
- 12:00noon – 2:00pm Oysterfest – Platinum Pass Exclusive:gift bag upon arrival, very limited capacity early entry with access to farmers, unlimited oysters, educational pairing seminars, and more.The Southside Aces kick off the live music.
- 2:00pm – Oysterfest Begins!
All passes open for entry - 2:30pm – Oyster Shucking Showdown (featuring local chefs and shuckers)
- Oyster School, Oyster Stout tasting & info session, how to shuck your own and more – specific times posted on day of event
- 3:30pm – Live Music continues with Jaeydn James & the Hunger – get your briny on!
- 4:00pm -Oyster Shucking Showdown Final; local chefs and friends, all gather round
For those less excited about bivalves in any form (though we’d have to wonder why you’d want to go), there will be plenty of other top-notch eats to enjoy, including a whole roasted pig.
A whole one. Roasted. Pork and oysters for the win.
It’s also Meritage’s 10th birthday this year. Which, with all of our favorite, important restaurants closing one after another (with Lucia’s as the most recent), makes us breathe a happy sigh of relief just to say.
Here’s to ten more years, Meritage. And so many oysters along the way.
