In Wellfleet, Oysters can be found in the darnedest places. Silver oysters dangle from jewelry store displays as pins or charms. Wellfleet Chamber T-shirts sport the images of an oyster. Local confectioner Jade Huber sells chocolate oysters in her shop in South Wellfleet. Piles of real oysters await consumption outside The Bookstore and are on the menu at every single eatery in town except Flying Fish, which serves pizza. Wellfleet even has a restaurant called The Wicked Oyster.
Art galleries offer inedible oysters to take home by Kim Kettler and other Outer Cape artists. Oysters inspired the Oysterfest in mid-October, where Kettler sets up a temporary Oyster Museum of Art. Of course, shellfishermen collect bushels of oysters out on the flats at low tide and children pick up oyster shells at Mayo Beach. There are so many empty oyster shells that we use them instead of gravel and they crunch under the tire treads on our driveway. Now the Wellfleet Harbor Actors’ Theater brings summer entertainment, entitled – what else? – The Happy Oyster Spectacular Show. Here’s a brief description: “A fast-paced comedy review that places contemporary culture under the microscope - one with a fractured lens. Good Morning America, Garrison Keillor, YouTube, drug commercials, and dating services are just a few of the subjects that fall prey to Subtractive Media's satirical examination.” You can read impressions from a cast member here. If the economic crisis has got you down, go laugh at WHAT every Sunday this summer, through August 30, 8 p.m. Tickets here.
