The Bluff Oyster & Food Festival is back and it is just as popular as ever.

After an enforced break last year due to alert level restrictions, showery weather did not deter the crowd as the queue stretched around the block waiting for the gates to open at 10.30am. When they did, the race was on to get a good spot. Thirty minutes later the Bluff Oyster was piped onto the main stage, the Ode To The Oyster was recited, Festival Chairman John Edminstin welcomed one and all, and the festivities were underway

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Later Edminstin said, “it’s a good crowd, a crowd that are very well behaved. Things are going well.” He thanked the public for their support and the travellers for making their way to Bluff. He also had a special word for the volunteers and their efforts in putting the Festival together.

The iconic Oyster events attracted a big crowd and they witnessed history as Bluff woman Vic Pearsey of Barnes Oysters made it ten titles in a row when she won the Ladies Opening race with a time of 2 minutes 59.42 seconds. Pearsey had to wait two years for the opportunity to go for number ten after last year’s cancellation. She then went into a first-ever shootout with the winner of the Men’s race, Ricci Grant, also from Barnes Oysters. Grant who had also won the Men’s title in 2019 took the victory but it was close, his time, 2 minutes 36 seconds while Pearsey took 2 minutes 51 seconds.

Pearsey said she was “absolutely rapt” with the tenth title. “The oysters were pretty firm and the knife was a bit bendy, but there were no cuts (cut oysters draw a penalty in the event).” The clash against Grant had been “a lot of fun and at the end of the day that is what it is all about.” Before the event Pearsey said this would be her last. “It is time for someone else to have a go,” she said. “I will come back and enter the relay with the boys but that’s all,” she said after her achievement.

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Grant admitted he had been “a bit nervous.” “Vic wanted to take the men on and I was the one. I take my hat off to her,” he said. Grant cut part of his thumb off opening oysters four years ago and I never thought I would open oysters again. “It is a tribute to my surgeon.”

A first-time visitor to the Festival, Matiu Ferris of Porongahau in Central Hawkes Bay won the Oyster Eating Competition saying he would like to return and defend the title next year.

Mike Lane of Radio Hauraki won the Wasabe Chilli Challenge.

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Meanwhile around the rest of the venue the crowd enjoyed Bluff Oysters, other great southern seafood and other foods, a range of beverages and an entertainment programme featuring the Bluff School Kapa Haka Group, the Dunedin based Julian Temple Band, 11-piece Christchurch band Capitol City, a Polynesian Dance Off, local group The Freshies and another appearance by Capitol City with plenty of giveaways and prizes interspersed throughout the day

Ticket information for the 2022 Festival, scheduled for Saturday 21 May, will be made available in October. Check the contact page at www.bluffoysterfest.co.nz for details.

RESULTS 2021 BLUFF OYSTER & FOOD FESTIVAL OYSTER COMPETITION

BARNES OYSTERS NOVICE COMPETITION (25 Oysters)

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Te Coleman (Barnes Oysters) – 1 minute 40.33 seconds
Mel Matheson (Calders) – 2 minutes 25.59
Hayley Twiss (Barnes Oysters) – 2 minutes 37.65

FRESH OYSTERS MEN’S OPEN (50 Oysters)

Ricci Grant (Barnes Oysters) – 2 minutes 20.32
Kaiarangi Matangi (Barnes Oysters) – 2 minutes 25.30
Xavier Fife (Calders) – 2 minutes 38.83

MENS V LADIES CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL

Ricci Grant (Barnes Oysters) 2 minutes 36 seconds
Vic Pearsey (Barnes Oysters) 2 minutes 51 seconds

MARINA FISH & OYSTERS LADIES OPEN (50 Oysters)

Vic Pearsey (Barnes Oysters) 2 minutes 59.42
Peg Bishop (Calders) 3 minutes 06.56
Tayler Hill (Calders) 3 minutes.10.44

DANIEL LOVETT MEMORIAL BLINDFOLD (10 Oysters)

Kaiarangi Matangi (Barnes Oysters) 1 minute 15.57
Ricci Grant (Barnes Oysters) 1 minute 19.3

W E JOHNSON RELAY (Teams of 4/20 Oysters per opener)

Barnes Oysters (Vic Pearsey, Ricci Grant, Kaiarangi Matangi, Otene Abraham) – 5 minutes 43.97
Calders (Xavier Fife, Tayler Hill, Peg Bishop, Shane Cartwright) – 6 minutes 01.95

BLUFF OYSTER & FOOD FESTIVAL OYSTER EATING

Matiu Ferris (Porongahau, Central Hawkes Bay)

WASABI/CHILLI CHALLENGE

Mike Lane (Radio Hauraki)

Big Crowd and Big Achievement at Oyster Festival

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