Shellabration canceled, with hopes of returning ‘reimagined’ next year

For the first time in over a decade, there will be no Shellabration in Greenport this December.

The Cornell Cooperative Extension Marine Program and Greenport Business Improvement District announced the cancellation in a recent letter.

“We did not make this decision lightly, and we apologize for any inconvenience or disappointment this may cause,” the statement reads from CCE Marine Program Director Chris Pickerell and BID President Richard Vandenburgh.

The annual shellfish-lover event has been taking place the first weekend of December for the last 13 years. Mr. Pickerell said the decision to cancel stemmed from village businesses and shops becoming overburdened and stressed from the number of people coming in throughout the weekend. 

“It’s such a wonderful event, the community enjoys it, and we really enjoy it, but we want to, kind of, reimagine it,” Mr. Pickerell said. “We’ve been slowly growing the scale of the event, and I think we’ve gotten to the point where it may be at a critical mass.”

Mr. Pickerell said he hasn’t spoken to all the local business owners, but he’s spoken to a few. What he’s gathered is that, while they are very supportive of the event, and love the exposure, they do get slammed. 

Cornell Cooperative Extension and the BID have sent out two surveys to gather feedback about Shellabration: one for businesses and one for attendees. The hope is that the time off this year and the feedback will allow for reflection on how to improve the event. Shellabration is expected to return next year.

“We just need to think about how we can better fit the village and also benefit the businesses and shops as well,” Mr. Pickerell said. “We have to think about whether we need to scale it back in some way, or how we should approach this.”

Mr. Vandenburgh said there will also be a discussion involving the BID, Cornell, restaurants, attendees and oyster growers in the near future to have all points of view heard. He said they will be meeting well in advance of next year’s planned event, so there can be ample time to adjust.

With Shellabration being cancelled, The Hold Fast Fund and Little Creek Oysters are holding a meetup with business owners on Oct. 21 to get input on ways to improve it. They will also be proposing a potential replacement program for this year. 

The replacement program will have a kickoff event the night of Friday, Dec. 5, and run through the weekend. Little Creek Oysters co-founder Ian Wile, Mr. Vandenburgh and Mr. Pickerell understand the disappointment in the decision. They do hope, though, that people come out to this year’s event and keep the celebration going.

“​​We don’t want to lose that momentum or that spirit that helped us build this event, but we just want to be sure we get it right,” Mr. Pickerell said.