Oysterfest
Wellfleet MA
2013

https://www.wellfleetspat.org/about

"As I ate the oysters, … and as I drank their cold liquor from each shell and washed it down with the crisp taste of the wine, I lost the empty feeling and began to be happy, and to make plans."
~ Ernest Hemingway

Wellfleet, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, has been considered the home of one of the world’s great oyster beds for generations. This history created a fertile environment for the Wellfleet SPAT to emerge. Wellfleet SPAT, Shellfish Promotion and Tasting, Inc., is a non-profit organization chartered in 2002 – the year after Wellfleet’s first OysterFest. SPAT(Shellfish Promotion and Tasting) is devoted to sustaining Wellfleet’s shellfishing and aquaculture industries. Even the name honors the oyster. The acronym SPAT is also the name for a newly attached baby oyster.
SPAT promotes knowledge and interest in Wellfleet’s shellfishery by educating the community. Through events and seminars on shellfishing and environmental issues, SPAT celebrates and spreads the word about the town’s famous oysters and clams and its deep-rooted shellfishing traditions. SPAT produces the Wellfleet OysterFest®, and holds several smaller programs and outreach events each year. Proceeds from these activities support the organization’s educational mission which includes a local college scholarship program, community grant awards and initiatives to support Wellfleet’s shellfishing and aquaculture industries. To date, SPAT has awarded over $740,000 between the high school scholarship program, its community grants and pandemic relief efforts.