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Oyster Fest Art and Oyster Kick-Off Reception
The Arcata Main Street Oyster Festival will host a reception on May 21, from 5:30 to 8:00 PM, in the Jacoby Store House Plaza View Room. Highlighting the environment, industry, and shellfish economy of Humboldt Bay, the reception will feature artist Cynthia Hooper and her work, “A Negotiable Utopia: The Humboldt Bay Project,” along with Aldaron Laird’s show, “Aldaron’s Walkabout: A Photographic Exploration of Humboldt Bay”.
Oysters on the half-shell will be donated, shucked and presented by: Coast Seafood, Humboldt Bay Oyster Co., Aqua-Rodeo Farms, North Bay Shellfish and Hog Island Oyster Co. Finger food will be provided along with a no-host bar, local wines, and beers.
Conversation and mini presentations by Humboldt Bay Harbor District Commissioner Mike Wilson, Humboldt Bay oyster growers, Cynthia Hooper, and Aldaron Laird. Meet Fred Oystaire and event organizer Nancy Stephenson.
Profits from the $5.00 entrance fee will go to the Humboldt Bay Water Quality Testing Program. Space is limited on a first-come basis. Co-sponsored by Pacific Choice Seafoods.
The show will remain up through June 22, with Hooper’s video monitors turned on during (some) evenings. Laird’s photos will be in the Plaza Grill.
Cynthia Hooper creates short documentary video projects about the extraordinary complexity one can encounter in familiar and everyday environments. In fall of 2014, she presented a comprehensive video and essay project about Humboldt Bay at the HSU First Street Gallery in Eureka. For The Arcata Bay Oyster Festival event, Cynthia will restage components of this project, including videos and essays about Humboldt Bay’s natural resource economy, its varied conservation initiatives, and its water and transportation infrastructure.
Aldaron Laird, an environmental planner and photographer, spent 130 days walking, kayaking, exploring, and mapping 102 miles of shoreline on Humboldt Bay, amassing over 15,000 photographic images. A juried selection of these photographs will be showing in the Plaza Grill during our kick-off celebration. “I’m excited to be involved in another collaboration with Cynthia; she is the one who encouraged me to show my photographs of Humboldt Bay in the first place.” said Laird. His Bay photos, which were first exhibited at the Morris Graves Museum Tom Knight Gallery in fall of 2014, portray vistas and settings from each of the three Bays and Sloughs that are Humboldt Bay today. His walkabout was part of a project examining sea level rise and its impact on Humboldt Bay, and he’ll share a few key considerations with us.
Coast Seafoods Company has been a leader in shellfish production since 1946. As a local shellfish grower and steward of Humboldt Bay since 1955, Coast Seafoods’ goal is to produce the perfect oyster that reflects the beauty of the natural environment in which it is raised.
Arcata Bay’s Oyster Festival on Saturday June 20th is about celebrating our North Coast culture with merchants, restaurateurs, volunteers, and guests indulging in locally grown and prepared foods, drinks, music, and art. Less shy festival goers will join the Oyster Calling or Shuck-n-Swallow Contests, while everyone can groove to five different bands, giant puppets, kinetic sculptures, Artisan and Humboldt Made booths, Aquaculture Alley, and much more. For kids, there will be the new Oyster Fest Treasure Hunt and expanded activities. New wines, beer, and hard cider will be offered, along with a variety of non-alcoholic beverages. Taste award-winning oysters and other tasty non-oyster delicacies, 10 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. with plenty of off-site shuttles and parking.
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