Greenport plans oyster specials as Shellabration stays on hold for second year

Greenport business leaders are working to keep oysters on the menu after the village’s popular Shellabration festival was shelved for the second straight year.

The Greenport Business Improvement District plans to promote food and retail specials downtown Saturday, Dec. 5, with some businesses interested in hosting guest oyster shuckers, BID President Rich Vandenburgh said.

Unlike past celebrations, there would be no centralized gathering or tent.

“The idea is to focus on coming to town; there’ll be specials, there’ll be deals,” Mr. Vandenburgh told The Suffolk Times. “But also to make sure that we’re not completely departing from the idea that it’s an aquaculture type of day with connection to the working waterfront.”

The BID sent a questionnaire to its members asking what they would like to see in place of Shellabration, which was held the first weekend of December for 13 years before last year’s cancellation.

“The idea was to send out something to say, ‘Are you interested in seeing something happen…in the vein of a Shellabration event, or would you rather we focus on another weekend later in the wintertime?’” Mr. Vandenburgh said.

About 33 of the BID’s 259 members responded, he said. A majority favored something happening Dec. 5, with a handful preferring later in the winter.

“With that information in mind, we believe our best approach, from the BID’s point of view, is going to be to fund a promotional campaign, an advertising campaign,” said Mr. Vandenburgh, adding that the BID is also focusing on supporting other wintertime events in Greenport, including the third annual Holiday Stroll.

A follow-up questionnaire will ask businesses what food or retail specials they would offer to attract visitors that Saturday. Mr. Vandenburgh hopes to begin putting the campaign together this week.

Ellen’s on Front co-owner Andrew Werts said he would love to take part in an event that caters to all business types and can help bring in visitors. While it would be different from the traditional Shellabration, he’s interested.

Mr. Werts said he likes to mix things up, work with different chefs and do “cultural mashups,” which the proposed event could allow.

“It sounds like something that certainly highlights something special about the North Fork and the East End: our oysters and the aquaculture community,” he said. “As well as a good reason to come to town and have some other food, do some shopping, and visit the park.”

The annual shellfish celebration had been organized by Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Marine Program before it was canceled to rethink its format.

“Rather than attempting to recreate the event without its longtime organizer, the BID sees this as an opportunity to focus our collective efforts on other winter programming that still tries to incorporate our aquaculture and working waterfront businesses,” Mr. Vandenburgh said.

Ian Wile and Rosalie Rung, of Little Creek Oysters and the Hold Fast Fund, stepped in last year to keep the celebration alive with Raise Shell, a two-day event that featured more than a dozen local oyster farmers and live music.

More than $10,000 went to members of the Long Island Oyster Growers Association, while another $10,000 went to Cornell’s Suffolk Project in Aquaculture Training program.

But the Hold Fast Fund announced in August that it would not organize another Raise Shell this year.

Mr. Wile said he is considering putting together another oyster hall around New Year’s or early next year.

He noted that an annual Shellabration-style event is vital as a “last major purchase of local oysters, so with that off the books, it’s a problem for the industry.”