Last Friday thousands of oysters adorned the dining room of the Water Street restaurant inside the Harbor View Hotel, all in support of the Martha’s Vineyard Shellfish Group. Approximately 100 attendees were treated to shucked raw oysters, oyster chowder, smoked oysters, fried oyster sliders, and more delicious selections, prepared by Harbor View’s new executive chef Caleb Lara, at the second annual Romancing the Oyster event. Included in the ticket price of $50 was a $5 donation to the Martha’s Vineyard Shellfish Group, a nonprofit organization that works to preserve and expand the Vineyard’s traditional shellfisheries.
Guests mingled about the fundraising dinner, watching local shellfish farmers shuck their fresh catches, all grown locally in Katama Bay. Oyster farmers from Honeysuckle, Blue Moon, Spear Point, D & E, Roysters, and Signature Oysters each provided 400 oysters for the event, ensuring full raw bars, beautifully displayed over ice in wooden boats.
Along with the oysters came some personal anecdotes from the farmers. Scott Castro of Blue Moon Oysters showed off two handmade oyster-shucking knives that had been gifted to him from the blacksmith on the Charles W. Morgan whaleship that visited the Island last summer. Roy Scheffer and Tricia Bergeron of Roysters joked about competing for business with their son, Jeremy Scheffer, who ventured on his own with Spear Point Oysters. Dan Donnelly of D & E Oysters explained why he originally got into the business along with Evan, his 9-year-old son, to ensure he could provide a good sustainable future for his children (while enjoying the perks of being his own boss).
Good food and good conversation made for a lovely evening in the name of a good cause.
