It has come to my attention that the practice of wandering around with camera in hand, trying to capture at least part of the magic that is Oysterfest has led some to believe that I know exactly what I’m going to write about here when we get home from Urbanna.
Which is not entirely true, but not entirely false. There are definitely the things I want to capture, like this year’s winner in the most over the top fried food category:
Twinx = Twinkie + Twix + Bacon. And then deep fried.
You just felt your arteries harden reading that, didn’t you?
Somehow it felt like there were less fried food stands this year. The field of fried food was laid out slightly differently, with the LOVE sign having been moved from the river to the field.
However, there was still large amounts of fried food consumed. It is of note that this was the year of the epic funnel cake.
There was a young gentleman working his fried food booth that took the time to make AJ a custom fried dessert mix – I suspected he’d make me a funnel cake that would be up to par. I told him I needed to wander about, get my she-crab soup and I’d be back for a mac daddy funnel cake. He most decidedly did not let me down. That baby was at least 2 inches thick, putting the cake back into funnel cake.
As I waltzed back into the back yard, funnel cake in one hand, bag of pork rinds in the other, with powdered sugar flying everywhere, I’m told I was a sight to behold. At some point it was pointed out I was wearing a good portion of the powdered sugar previously on said cake and was told to pose, because clearly, me covered in powdered sugar was something that needed to be documented.
Also documented was Pdon.
The bromances:
Various sights of the festival around town:
The boy tree:
And the many faces of Walker.
Oysterfest is full of traditions we’ve developed, the things we do every year,
and the current year’s additions to the mix.
In the spirit of mixing up tradition, Rieman and I each had the thought to dress out of uniform this year, with both of us coming up separately with colorful new ensembles:
Although clearly, none of us are giving up the vest anytime soon. We are vest people. There was an entire conversation about how we are vest people. They are warm, yet practical. We are all fans and we all own several. We had a freaking vest love fest I tell you.
Of course we rally around the vest – that’s the beauty of Oysterfest. While there is a wickedly fun small town Virginia festival going on all around us, the real reason we are there is to spend time with a group of friends that feel like family. The sort of people you can hold long vest-loving conversations with.
It’s easy to capture lots of moments with my camera, but it’s harder to capture the magic that is the weekend of Oysterfest. The fun that is Friday night Ladies Night – with Mojo’s closed, Something Different was the place to be this year. I can report the jello shooters made the jump to the new location, but I shall not include the photos stealthily taken of some of the sights (socks with flip flops – worn inside out no less). The chaos that is Saturday, the longest day of the year, that began with the arrival of Brooke, Eric & AJ bright and early, with Brooke going around and crawling in bed with each of us to wake us up.
Big Abigail showed up with a most fabulous box of goodies for me that will absolutely be the subject of several upcoming blog posts. This year was my year to say the phrase “It’s only 3:30” with a hint of desperation in my voice, but as I looked around the garage at 10 pm that evening, we were all still awake. I can’t even remember what year it was last time we all were up past the children, that we all made it through the longest day of the year. We broke into the costume box in celebration. I laughed so hard I cried so many times that my eyes hurt from crying happy tears.
And while I captured all the shed graffiti,
I just realized I took no shots of actual oysters this year with my camera. We ate them, certainly – a good three hundred of them raw, roasted and fried according to Will, but none were documented.
Sometimes it’s quite challenging to document ALL of Oysterfest. Just getting everyone assembled for a group shot can be asking too much.
But I do what I can.
Chicken Wire & Paper Flowers 
Looks like a fabulous time! Yay you for getting so many pics even if it didn’t include oysters. I usually ditch my camera in the midst of fun and then whine because I didn’t take pics. I also think it is fabulous you have such a close knit family/friends group…you can see the love and happiness in your photos.
Thank you Suzi. It’s definitely a very special group of people. I found if I set my camera down, someone was picking it up to shoot something, so that’s how there are so many shots of me this year!
We also had a blast at Oyster fest though somehow we never found you guys. Maybe it was because I was in a fried food cloud and could not figure out which street was actually the fried food street possibly having to do with the libations being given out at my husbands cousins RV, but there is always next year and we are already planning on camping out for the weekend with the cousins next to the firehouse and beer garden.
EVERY street is a fried food street that weekend. And if you’re at the firehouse, you are really just up the street.
It looks like a Happy Fest for all concerned. You rocked that powder sugar . . . no vest required!
Always take your Saturday shower after your funnel cake. The late shower is also my secret to making it through the longest day of the year.
It looks like so much fun! I wish I were a vest person. I would like to be able to wear a down with flair, but I always look like I have a broomstick down my spine whenever I wear one.
Maybe something besides down is your thing? As you can tell from all the photos, we had many styles of vests among us.
Oh that looks like it was delicious fun!!!
It always is.
And colorful. I covet those yellow-green pants. 🙂
Rieman was quite proud of that purchase.