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Hundreds gather downtown for inaugural Baton Rouge Oyster Festival

5 years 8 months 4 weeks ago Saturday, June 30 2018 Jun 30, 2018 June 30, 2018 8:28 PM June 30, 2018 in News
Source: WBRZ

BATON ROUGE - The capital city's first-ever oyster festival took place in downtown on Saturday, and plenty of people turned out for some good eats.

From chargrilled, to raw, and everything in between, hundreds of people showed up for the inaugural Baton Rouge Oyster Festival.

"The weather is beautiful," attendee Mike Vickers said. "The food looks fantastic, the chargrilleds are super. It's gonna be a great day."

With dozens of local sponsors, festival-goers enjoyed an endless amount of oysters.

"I think it brings people downtown that have never been here," Vickers added. "It helps the new businesses that are open, the new restaurants... and you get to see what the Downtown Development District is doing with our tax dollars, and the improvements made."
 
And the festival wasn't just about eating oysters, shuckers got a chance to show off their skills.

"It feels real good," Duke Landry told News 2. "I won my first [oyster-shucking contest] thirty two years ago in New Orleans, and it was good to bring it home. Have it home here."

Landry, from Denham Springs, has traveled as far as China to compete against some of the best shuckers in the world. But he's more excited about competing here.

"Yeah, you have to find the best to be the best," Landry added. "You gotta compete with the good guys. These guys here today were tough, it was close. It really was."

Landry says he hopes this event puts Baton Rouge on the festival map.

"I think it's the food capital of the world," he said. "Lafayette and New Orleans, they've all got good food, too. But Baton Rouge has the good stuff and the world needs to know about it."

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