Final preparations are underway ahead of the return of Falmouth Oyster Festival next week.
This year’s festival will take place in the town’s new events venue The Waterfront, next to the Church Street car park, from Thursday, October 13 to Sunday, October 16.
Doors open at 10am on the Thursday and, following a shanty performance from local children, Nick Hemming, award-winning chef-owner at the Heron Inn Malpas, will then officially open the festival at 11am with a cookery demonstration.
Culture Restaurant’s Hylton Espey, originally from South Africa, will then bring a bit of nature-inspired cuisine to the afternoon before Chris Sharpe, from Falmouth Marine Conservation Group, explains their project to control the invasive non-native pacific oysters.
On the Friday, Cornwall College team Nick Batten and Ashley Carkeet will give a masterclass in cookery demonstration skills, before Nick Hodges returns in the afternoon. Head chef at The Greenbank Hotel, Nick has been delivering demonstrations at the Oyster Festival since day one.
To finish off the day, if you are serious about cooking fish don’t miss Annie Seabourne’s cookery class. “My underlying passion is to get people cooking more fish and using the best quality seafood in the world, which is on our doorstep,” said Annie from My Fish Kitchen.
“All of these fabulous chefs cook this amazing produce to inspire us all and not forgetting the use of our stunning native oyster, which they are using in such creative ways more and more each year.”
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The Saturday of the festival welcomes Alfie Hazlitt from Indidog for a demonstration and in the afternoon, Darren Millgate, a keen supporter of sustainable fishing, will represent St Michael’s Hotel and Spa, followed by a second chance to gain seafood skills from Annie.
On the final day, the Sunday, Steve Rudd, programme manager for professional cookery at Cornwall College, will be accompanying students as they perform a demonstration and private chef Tom Beanland will then deliver the final demonstration of the festival.
However, if you’re more about sampling food than cooking it, there will also be plenty of food and drink stalls offering local delicacies – with pride of place of course going to Cornish seafood and in particular the oyster, the star of the show.
Alongside the cookery demonstrations there will be a range of live music and performances, including on the Thursday with Cornish singer/songwriter Joe Francis at 1pm, Cornish comedian Johnny Cowling on stage at 7pm and rock ‘n’ roll band Jailhouse at 9pm.
The Friday is Community Day with live music at 1pm from Laura & The Jazz Capsule bring 1940s vibes, and then Will Keating with John Dowling at 3pm.
At 3.15pm the Grand Oyster Parade will take place through the town from 3.15pm, starting at Events Square and walking to The Waterfront off Church Street, with schoolchildren from the town.
The evening will see a cooking challenge in support of ShelterBox, when Hot Chef Challenge guru Nick Hodges returns to battle with new contender Hylton Espey to compete for this year’s champion title between 7pm and 9pm. It’s then straight into music from Falmouth Soul Sensation until 11pm.
One event always not to be missed is the annual oyster shucking competition on the Saturday, between 3pm and 4pm. Competitors will have to prove their skill in shucking oysters by opening and displaying 12 native oysters as quickly as possible without compromising on quality.
The Oyster Party will then be held between 7pm and 11pm, with reggae Latin funk band Malavita!, supported by Guilty Pleasures.
To round off the festival, Sunday sees the Oyster Working Boat Race take to the water at 11.30am. With the oyster season running from October to March, the festival’s race is the last before the hard graft begins – a great way to draw the annual celebrations to a close.
There will be live music with Cornish Ceilidh band Krelys from 1pm to 2pm, prize giving at 3pm and the Oggymen singing at 4pm.
For full details and evening event tickets visit www.falmouthoysterfestival.co.uk or see the social media pages on Facebook and Twitter. Daytime entry is free.
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