On Thursday evening, 12 seasoned oyster shuckers from up and down the East Coast toed the line in Baltimore, knives in hand, for a chance to compete in the U.S. National Oyster Shucking Competition Contest in St. Mary’s County, Maryland, this October.
The official qualifying competition was held at the Oyster Recovery Partnership’s sold-out World is Your Oyster fundraiser at the B&O Railroad Museum. Trays of Chesapeake Bay oysters were laid out on a long table with bright lights and timers ready as Baltimore Americana-rock artist Caleb Stine and his band (temporarily renamed Caleb Stine and the Mother Shuckers) got the crowd grooving ahead of the competition.
Then, the Oyster Recovery Partnership honored outgoing Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin for his contributions to oyster recovery in the Bay, helping to secure funding for major restoration reef projects. With his “Pearl of the Chesapeake” award, he received an oyster knife hand-carved from the famous Wye Oak, America’s largest white oak tree until its fall in 2002.
Contestants in the Tito’s Handmade Vodka pro Shucking Competition waited around with numbers pinned to their shirts. Many were from well-known restaurants in the Chesapeake Bay region, like The Local Oyster and Dylan’s Oyster Cellar in Baltimore and seafood distributor J.J. McDonnell. At least two were from Philadelphia, and one, Brooks Colleton, came all the way from Jacksonville, Florida to compete.
“I’m from Florida. I’m moving up here in a few months, so this is like my audition,” Colleton told us. He hoped to attract enough attention with his performance to get a job shucking oysters.
The group included past champions, nationally ranked shuckers like Dan Worrell of Fallen Pine Oyster Company, and first-time competitors alike. Each brought their own tricks of the trade: each had a favorite oyster knife, and several had different kinds of grips used to brace against the oyster while opening it.
One contestant used a wedge, another, a dish towel, and some simply wore gloves. Will Hahn, representing the fifth generation of Faidley Seafood family, brought an interesting curved tool that he explained is called “a lead”. He says lead is both strong and soft, allowing it to grip the grooves of the oyster shell.
“You can’t buy them anymore,” he told me. “My grandfather bought a bunch of them…I’ll probably have this forever.”
When the competition got underway, each contestant had to count out 20 oysters and shuck them, leaving them on the half shell with the oyster meat severed from its shell. The race was on.
While time counts in this competition, the fastest shucker doesn’t necessarily win. After the shucking is finished, judges carefully inspect the oysters shucked by each contestant and impose deductions when needed. This time, a couple of shuckers didn’t count out 20 oysters correctly, instead shucking 19 or 21, and they had 30 seconds added onto their times. Other deductions can be made if the oyster is not properly severed, there is grit, a shell breaks, or if the meat is “cut or mangled”. And yes, a penalty is given if there is blood on the oyster.
In the end, the big winner was Francisco Lopez, a shucker at The Walrus in National Harbor, D.C., who is originally from El Salvador and has been shucking for 10 years. Next, he’s off to the national competition at the 58th Annual U.S. Oyster Festival, held Oct. 20-21, 2024, in Lexington, St. Mary’s County.
Virginia’s best shuckers get their own chance at greatness in November, where the official Virginia Oyster Shucking Contest is held during the Urbanna Oyster Festival, now in its 67th year.
