For the first time since 2021 the event will take place in Bluff this Saturday, 25 May.
Gates open at 10.30am and at 11.00am the iconic Bluff Oyster will be piped onto the site by the Invercargill Highland Pipe Band. The Ode To The Oyster is then recited on the main stage and then the Festival is officially open. A full day of musical entertainment follows on the main stage while in Shed 3 the infamous oyster events take place and of course there is seafood and other food offerings galore around the venue.
The Bluff Oyster is the star of the show and as always there will be plenty available – raw, cooked, oyster shots, however you like them.
There are many more with other succulent seafood offerings including mussel kebabs, smoked mussels, seafood platters, Sea Urchins (kina), seafood chowder, prawns, paua, blue cod, whitebait, crayfish, squid and more. If you are not a seafood fan there are choices such as pork belly burgers, venison and bacon burgers, guacamole & corn chips and hot meat sandwiches.
The popular oyster events start at 12.30pm in Shed 3 with the Oyster Opening races first up with races for Men, Ladies, Novices plus a Factory Relay race and a Blindfold event.
In the Men’s category Ricci Grant returns to defend his title having won the last time the festival was held in 2021. Grant also won the title in 2019.
Vic Pearsey, who won the Ladies title ten years in a row, has stuck to her word that her tenth success in 2021 was her last time in the individual events but she will take part in the factory relay race as part of the Barnes Wild Oysters Team.
Following the oyster opening events the oyster eating races take place with members of the crowd being invited to take part armed with a humble toothpick.
Musical entertainment is a feature and as patrons enter the site they will be welcomed by the Mapu-Kuki-Airani Rarotongan drummers. After the Piping In Of The Oyster, The Ode To The Oyster and the official opening the entertainment commences at 11.20am with the Bluff School Kapa Haka group entertaining until 11.45am when SIT Sounz, comprising of music students from the School of Contemporary Music at SIT, take to the stage.
At 12.45pm, In The Pocket, consisting of drummer Metua Marama, bass player Asher Skerrett, guitarist Darcy Kerr, and vocalist Maia Pereiha-Fletcher bring their repertoire from classic old-school hits to modern bangers followed by the Polynesian drummers who return for a dance off at 1.45pm.
Singer-songwriter Jackie Bristow is next up on stage at 2.30pm. Bristow’s musical journey has taken her from Gore to Australia and then to the United States and her adopted home of Nashville.
2018 Southland Entertainer of the Year Lachie Hayes follows at 3.30pm before the last act at 4.30pm, Sea Beast, a Dunedin band featuring Andy P Parsons, the guitarist and lead singer, now returned to New Zealand after a stint in New York and Callum Hampton of The Chills and Left or Right fame.
EFTPOS is available at the festival but use of credit cards is not, so it is recommended that visitors obtain sufficient cash in Invercargill before travelling to Bluff.
Go Bus will operate a return bus service throughout the day right to the festival gate. Services leave Invercargill at 9.45am, 10.45am and 11.45am and traverse two routes which are within walking distance from most Invercargill accommodation providers. The routes are listed at www.bluffoysterfest.co.nz
Services return at 3.00pm, 4.00pm, 5.00pm, 6.00pm and finally at 6.30pm. The return trip costs $30 and bookings are not required.