Whitstable Oyster Festival - Art, Heritage, Family, Food and Drink.

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2011 Events by Type

A listing of the Festival events, by type. Click on any title for that event’s page.

Heritage

The week’s festivities open on the Saturday with the food Epicentre, followed by the ceremonial “Landing of the Oysters” at Long Beach and the noisy and colourful Oyster Parade. Next day is Sea Sunday, and then Thursday brings another key heritage event at Reeves Beach, with the memorable and moving ‘Blessing of the Waters’ ceremony.

Surrounding these showpiece ceremonies are more local traditions which add to the eccentric Festival ambience. Crab catching and Grotter Day are both firm favourites with children whilst the Mud Tug and Oyster Eating competitions celebrate the messy and riotous. And of course, heritage walks, talks and demonstrations can be found at a variety of venues and times throughout the week.

Food and Drink

If you have visited the Festival you’ll know why Whitstable’s reputation as a centre for fine food is so well deserved. At the beginning of the Festival, and showcasing the very best in local produce and taste, the 2-day EPICentre will present over 40 food producers alongside entertainment, food stage demonstrations and the much loved annual oyster eating competition. In addition, the Whitstable Brewery Beer Festival has over 30 cask beers to enjoy, plus live music in the evening.

If you dream of tasting the world-famous Whitstable Native Oysters, sorry but you’ll have to return after September 1st when they are in season, but there are local rock oysters and plenty of other oyster types to practice on throughout the town.

Family

If you have a family to entertain you’ll find lots of family activities for everyone to enjoy, alongside special events just for children. We guarantee something on each and every day for families and children. Everything is more than affordable for even the largest families, and many events are even free!

Arts

Art lovers will enjoy the variety of theatre, art, music and dance on offer. As well as open air performances, there is a wide variety of music in pubs, bars and community venues throughout Whitstable, more theatre in the street and at the Playhouse, more arts, and lots of workshop opportunities for people of all ages.

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