Oyster Fest 2026 in Oyster Bay: Where the Oysters Come From

A Newsday photograph from this summer shows bayman Bill Gouse handing his day's catch to a local wholesaler at the docks in Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Park. On October 17 and 18, that same park will hold the 43rd Oyster Fest and more than 70,000 oysters. Almost none of those oysters will have come from the water behind the docks.

That gap explains a lot about Oyster Bay this fall. The town is named for a shellfish its harbor can barely supply right now, and much of the shellfish work around Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Park is aimed at bringing the harbor back, so this is a quiet stretch for harvest. The festival celebrates the oyster. The park around it is where the harbor's next crop is being raised.

The 70,000 oysters at Oyster Fest come from out east

Newsday's 2026 festival guide reports that the raw oysters shucked on site are harvested from Long Island waters "from Peconic Bay to Moriches Bay," gathered by members of the Long Island Oyster Growers Association. Those growers will also try for a record on Sunday. Eric Koepele, owner of North Fork Big Oyster farm and the association's president, told Newsday the current one-hour shucking record is "just shy of 9,000," held by a Canadian group, and that the team will try to shuck 10,000 in an hour at 12:30 p.m. on October 18.

Statewide, farming is what has kept oysters plentiful. Newsday, citing state Department of Environmental Conservation data, reports that New York's oyster harvest fell from 106,688 bushels in 1990 to 19,935 in 2000, then grew with aquaculture to 43,419 bushels in 2023 and 53,619 in 2024. Most of that growth happened far from Oyster Bay Harbor.

How the harbor went quiet

For about 30 years, the harbor's shellfish came largely from one company. Frank M. Flower & Sons held exclusive harvest rights to a 1,400-acre stretch of Oyster Bay and Cold Spring harbors and restocked it from its own hatchery. Newsday reports the company put up to 100 million oysters and clams into the harbors each year. Court filings show the seeding stopped about seven years ago.

After the lease ended, the Town split up the former lease waters and opened much more of them to the public. It also kept hundreds of acres off limits, some temporarily and some permanently, so that shellfish could spawn there. Separately, effective June 29, 2026, the state Department of Environmental Conservation moved 217 acres of Oyster Bay Harbor from certified year-round to uncertified year-round.

A town-commissioned survey by Cashin Associates sampled 72 stations in the harbors and found live oysters at only two, both in poor condition. Newsday's summary of the harbor this summer was short: "There's not much left to dig for."

The park that raises the next crop

Festival visitors walk past the Town's current answer to that problem. The Town opened its north shore hatchery at Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Park in October 2019, in partnership with the North Oyster Bay Baymen's Association, in a 950-square-foot building fitted with upwelling and algae tanks. Young clams and oysters grow there in tanks and floating upwellers. They are then released into protected Bay Management areas and spawner sanctuaries. Sources give different output figures. The Town's own page lists roughly two million clams and oysters a year. Newsday describes the facility as able to produce 12 million shellfish seeds a year.

The Town says that across all its sites, seeding has grown from fewer than 5 million shellfish a year to more than 20 million. On October 7, it announced a $130,000 state grant, secured by Assemblyman Jake Blumencranz, to buy a new workboat for that restoration work. A much larger step is planned at TOBAY Beach. The Herald reported in April that the Town described this new hatchery as an addition to its shellfish program, with the Theodore Roosevelt Park hatchery staying in operation, and a goal of 40 to 60 million shellfish a year, much of it meant for Oyster Bay Harbor. Newsday puts its cost at $7 million.

Supervisor Joseph Saladino explained the goal to Newsday in personal terms:

"I have grandchildren, and I want them to be clamming and oystering the way I did as a child."

Residents are part of the work too. Friends of the Bay's Re-Clam the Bay program held its third clam drop in September. According to the Herald, the group bought locally dug clams through Captree Clam and placed them in town-protected sanctuaries in Oyster Bay Harbor, Mill Neck Creek and Cold Spring Harbor to serve as breeding stock. The Town's Oyster Gardening program trains residents and gives them cages for up to 1,000 young oysters. Those oysters go back into public waters and are never sold or eaten.

Experts quoted by Newsday warn that a hatchery takes years to get right. "There are demons around every corner," said Raymond Grizzle, a research professor at the University of New Hampshire. For the foreseeable future, the harbor's shellfish are being raised to rebuild the population, and diners will be eating oysters grown elsewhere.

Festival weekend, with the harbor in view

The festival runs from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. both days on Audrey Avenue and in Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Park. Admission is free. The Town of Oyster Bay and the Oyster Bay–East Norwich Chamber of Commerce organize it. Key times:

• Saturday, Oct. 17, 1:35 p.m.: oyster shucking and eating contests on the Main Stage in the park
• Sunday, Oct. 18, 10 to 11 a.m.: a sensory-friendly ride hour, before the festival opens
• Sunday, Oct. 18, 12:30 p.m.: the 10,000-oyster shucking record attempt
• Both days: Savannah Bananas players meeting fans, about 90 artisan vendors in the park, more businesses along Audrey Avenue, the new Legame Bayview Patio, and a children's handprint painting activity on a Tesla Cybertruck

The John J. Harvey fireboat is among the waterfront attractions. The WaterFront Center is running Oyster Fest sails aboard IDA MAY on both days. Space is limited, with some seats sold in advance and some on the day, and boarding is reached through the Western Waterfront. The boat ride takes you right past the protected harbor waters.

For getting there, organizers suggest the LIRR or parking at Syosset station, James H. Vernon School in East Norwich, or Centre Island Beach. Free shuttles run from 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

The rest of the year, the oysters still travel

After the tents come down, downtown keeps buying its shellfish from outside the harbor too. The newest seafood counter in the hamlet is The Bay Butcher at 96 South Street, which opened in 2026 and sells dry-aged beef, whole fish and a rotating selection of East Coast oysters.

That counter is part of a downtown that has changed a lot. The Herald reported in August that about a decade ago, the hamlet had boarded-up buildings and rising vacancy rates. Much of the revival since then is credited to two hospitality groups.

• Lush Life Hospitality Group opened 2Spring in 2018 and then added the 10-seat Chef's Counter at Four on South Street, Gioia, Gimme Burger, Provisions Market and Provisions Bakery.
• Stellina Hospitality opened Stellina in February 2022, followed by The Audrey on South Street and then L'Étoile at 108 South Street. L'Étoile is in the former Snouder's Drug Store building, which sat empty for almost 16 years. The Snouder's sign and most of the original woodwork were kept.

Stellina's newest restaurant opened six days ago. Long Island Wave reports that HOSHI, a sushi and Japanese restaurant at 34 Audrey Avenue, opened October 5. Its chef's omakase is served at the sushi bar and requires an advance reservation. HOSHI sits on the festival's own street, so its first big weekend will be Oyster Fest.

Jackie Cipolla, executive director of the Main Street Association, told the Herald that the stronger business community helped pay for the restored Roosevelt-Derby Bandstand and new seating near the post office. Restaurants are filling the storefronts again. The harbor's shellfish will take longer to come back, and the hatchery at Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Park is where that work starts.

If you are walking Audrey Avenue on festival weekend and wondering how Oyster Bay's waterfront and downtown will change over the next few years, Maggie Keats is happy to talk it through over coffee on South Street. Let's Connect.