Fulton Texas Oysterfest 2009

Today we went into Fulton for Oysterfest, which started Thursday, but we waited until Sunday to attend. The weather was beautiful as you will see from the photos...I will post quite a few photos.
They had a beer and wine cooler tent with live entertainment going on all day long.They also had oysters served raw or deep fried..yummy.....Chris and John introduced us to oysters on the half shell in Key West, but I have never seen more raw oysters served up than this......I absolutely LOVE oysters!!!We grabbed some beer and blended right in with the locals...as you can see by my T-shirt.You may have to click on the photo to read it...The entertainment in the tent was "interesting" to say the least..We had a troupe of mideastern bellydancers doing some tricky moves..not your typical Texan type of entertainment, but the men were loving it...especially Dennis..

Here is just a sample of said "entertainers"...They had an oyster eating contest for kids. Boy was that fun to watch... I think they just slide down real easy with the water they served with them. I thought this kid had the right idea...He squirted ketchup in the baggie with the oysters and just tipped it up into his mouth..I think he was disqualified for that.. Then there was this poor kid..I thought he might puke before he was done!! They also had an oyster shucking contest with a $700 first prize..now things were getting intense. Each contestant got to pick out 24 oysters to shuck. They weren't allowed to touch their knife to the shell because it could make it easier to open them..Here are some guys picking out their oysters to shuck.. Here are a couple shots of the contest..

This festival is held on the waterfront bay of Fulton, right next to the convention center, which I took a photo of..
The Fulton Beach road is the long drive right along the bay. There are some absolutely beautiful homes along the drive. In this photo we are walking back on that road to get in our truck and head back to the campground.. All of the Live Oak trees along this road in the yards are "windswept" by the prevailing winds and they lean to the West, as you can see... This photo is one of my favorite homes..Note the walkway to the top of the house and imagine yourself, drink in your hand, lying back in your beach chair watching the tide come in...This would be the life..
This was a perfect day to spend on the beachfront, drinking beer and eating oysters...We may have to have just one more order of deep fried oysters from "Pops" tomorrow night before we head North to Goliad on Tuesday. Goliad is a TOTALLY different kind of place than this, but only 48 miles away...You will see, when I blog from there....Later....