Oysters: Either you love ‘em or you hate ‘em. There are those who “shuck and swallow” on a regular basis and those who won’t touch the creature. But regardless of their spot in your heart, oysters have a unique place in the community culture of Humboldt County.
Hundreds of years ago, the Wiyot people fished the Humboldt Bay for all sorts of shellfish, making them a substantial part of their diet. Today, a few dedicated farmers harvest what some call the “gems” of Humboldt County—oysters.
Grown in mud and nurtured by murky sea water for up to two years, oysters aren’t the most attractive of all foods. Just pop one open and you’ll see that the small pillow of salty goodness marinating in brine isn’t a welcoming sight for many people.
Junior English major Marianne Candela said that she “never had the guts” to taste them. “It’s the color and texture,” she said.
Humboldt Bay Oyster Company Owner Todd Van Herpe said that trying an oyster is something that everyone should do at least once.
“I love conversion stories when people say, ‘Yeah I’ve never had one,’ and they end up loving them,” said Herpe. “90 percent of the people who try them, love them.”
Another part of the local oyster culture is the Arcata Bay Oyster Festival. To be held this year on the Arcata Plaza on June 20, the festival showcases a community of oyster lovers, starting with the farmers, then the vendors and finally ending with the lucky person who slurps down the bounty of Humboldt Bay.
The festival, hosted by Arcata Main Street, will take over the plaza this summer for the 19th year in a row. Jennifer Koopman, executive director of Arcata Main Street, said that one goal for the festival is to lessen the environmental impact. The group uses recycled paper for its posters, 100 percent organic shirts and compostable cups.
Koopman, who grew up in Eureka and tried her first oyster at the Arcata Bay Oyster Festival as a kid, said the Festival is the biggest one-day event in Humboldt County. Last summer, it brought in roughly 18,000 people, she said. That is more than double the size of HSU.
Talking about the different types of ways to prepare oysters, Koopman said the festival allows people to be really creative. “More people can actually appreciate them and more people are willing to try them,” she said.
Herpe said that besides tasting good, oysters are a good source of omega-3 fatty acids, a compound which can help reduce the risk of heart disease. They are also high in protein and zinc- the mineral which gives the oyster its fabled aphrodisiac qualities.
Their sexual mysticism aside, oysters aren’t the simplest of farm animals in the area. They require very specific conditions to grow well. Herpe said that the 450 acres of North Humboldt Bay (Arcata Bay) is ideal for growing oysters for a number of reasons.
First, consistent cool temperatures provide a stable environment for the oysters to grow. Also, the shallow Bay provides a lot of nutrients that help to grow microalgae which the oysters feed on, Herpe said.
He also attributes the relatively clean condition of Humboldt Bay, something which oysters need, to the good waste-water treatment practices of Arcata and Eureka.
Harvesting oysters, as dirty and mucky as their reputation might seem, is an environmentally friendly practice in Humboldt. Beginning with the clean water of the surrounding cities, the act of oyster harvesting is much less damaging now than it was in the 1980s, said Herpe.
Dredging, the process of “vacuuming” up the oysters off the mud flats of the Bay, is an outdated process that harms the Bay’s ecosystem. Now harvesters use long lines.
Herpe said long lines keep maturing oysters suspended in mesh nets about four feet off the floor of the Bay. This makes harvesting less invasive to the surrounding ecosystem.
“Everybody is conscious of their footprint here,” said Herpe. “And that’s exactly what oysters need— a clean and beautiful environment.”
The oyster culture of Humboldt County is so successful and active that a group based in Daytona Beach, Fla., contacted Arcata Main Street to get a feel for how they run the Oyster Festival here. The only other oyster festivals Koopman knows of are in San Francisco and Maryland.
Aside from being a fun time for attendees, the festival is a huge source of economic income. Jessica Digiambattista and Steven Hackett of HSU’s Economics Department studied the 2004 Arcata Bay Oyster Festival. They estimated that festival-related spending was just under $700,000.
But for many locals, oysters mean more than just a boost for the wallet. The festival represents a chance to come together in Humboldt County, drawing in residents from Orick to Garberville.
Amber Carroll, an Arcata resident and a Psychology sophomore at the University of California at Santa Cruz, said that she has attended the Oyster Festival every year since she moved to Arcata about nine years ago.
“I love trying them with different toppings and sauces,” said Carroll. “The local companies come up with their own recipes for oysters and it’s fun going around and trying them all.”
Recently, away.com, a travel planning Web site, ranked the Arcata Bay Oyster Festival as one of the world’s top 10 food festivals. Coming in at seventh place, the Oyster Festival made the list for a number of reasons, said away.com writer Amanda Dumenigo.
“I personally love oysters, and they [the festival] get very creative with how they cook them,” said Dumenigo. “I really enjoy how seasonal it is and how local it is. To have a whole festival around that is great.”
Dumenigo said local food helps to create a greater sense of community and pride. On top of that, the eco-friendly nature of the festival made it stand out among others.
“It’s like any food source that nature offers- we should be proud of it and grateful for it,” said Dumenigo.
She added that Humboldt oysters offer a unique experience for those who eat them and work with them, “If the community is plugged into its environment and habitat, it will invariably have something unique to offer.”
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