30 September, 2015 11:27AM ACST

Ceduna Oysterfest keeps on shucking for 25th anniversary

The regional South Australian festival has sold thousands of oysters and helped build an industry since it began 25 years ago.

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When punters and vendors gather at the Ceduna foreshore for Oysterfest on Saturday, it will mark a quarter of a century since the town, about 780 kilometres north-west of Adelaide, first came together to hold a celebration of the famous local produce.

Over the years, growers have shucked and sold thousands of oysters to people from all over Australia who made the trip to the annual festival.

This year's 25th anniversary is expected to bring more visitors than ever to Ceduna - with an art prize and exhibition, concerts, parades and competitions planned for the weekend.

Although it is now a signature event for the town, Oysterfest co-ordinator Annette Plane explained how it was a campaign by locals to revive the flagging economic fortunes of the region that lead to the inaugural Oysterfest.

And it was all spearheaded by the local dentist, Don Urquhart, who pushed for a committee of volunteers to organise a festival to "bring the community together" and promote the fledgling oyster industry.

"We were having some pretty tough times at that stage," she said.

"There were a lot of people going off the land and farmers looking for something different to get themselves into because they were losing their businesses and losing their farms.

"And that's when the oyster industry really started up in the region as well.

"That's when some local people came up with the idea of using oysters as the theme for the festival as a way to generate some interest in the local oyster industry.

"So the two kind of came together."

In the first year of Oysterfest vendors sold about 800 dozen oysters. Since then that figure has more than doubled, with 1,900 dozen sold at last year's festival.

Annette said the festival has gone from strength to strength, and the local oyster industry has followed a similar path.

"Particularly in the early years, because it was a new industry and they weren't really sure how it was going to go over here, this was a way of them establishing their brand," she said.

"Ceduna and Smoky Bay oyster growers now account for almost half of South Australia's oyster production, and that's around 6.4 million per year."

The early days of the festival weren't without challenges, with one year in particular leaving an indelible impression on everyone in Ceduna.

"We had a flood at the Oysterfest in the third year," Annette said.

"We got our annual rainfall in the space of two hours.

"Because the site is near the lowest point of town, we had about a metre of water across the road.

"People were knee deep in water when they were trying to cook and prepare their oysters.

"Everyone still talks about the year of the flood now, every year they say 'are we going to have another flood?'"

The festivities have remained largely the same over the last 25 years, with music, food and drinks the core components of the weekend.

A highlight is the oyster shucking and eating competition, where competitors work in pairs to prepare and eat a dozen oysters in the fastest time.

The winner at last year's festival finished in 1 minute 24 seconds, chewing through one oyster every seven seconds on their way to victory.

The party atmosphere will be ramped up this year, with the festival opening with a concert, Shuck'n Loud, and coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the Ceduna Sailing Club.

Oysterfest committee member Leonie Scott, who is organising this year's main street parade, said the town transforms every year for the event.

"It's a real carnival atmosphere, we get people to decorate their windows for the week and we've got t-shirts for everyone just to promote Oysterfest," she said.

But it's still the oysters that are the main attraction, and Annette said they were still as important for the region as they were 25 years ago.

"We're known as the oyster capital of Australia, we've trademarked that, we try and use that to promote oysters within the Eyre Peninsula region," she said.

"But the Oysterfest itself is a good way of showcasing the region and saying this is what we have to offer.

"The legacy is that it's 25 years on and still happening and has as much, if not more, community support than it did back then."