Norwalk photos: Oyster Fest

NORWALK, Conn. — Tremendous crowds greeted the Oyster Festival after its one-year absence, Norwalk Seaport Association President Mike Reilly said.

“The festival was great. We had fantastic weather, obviously blessed with great weather. And we had tremendous crowds, you know, and I think people really want to get out, you know, and I think that was a big thing. Obviously, we had lots of COVID safety protocols, and we had a safe weekend,” Reilly said Saturday. “…We don’t really know the attendance numbers, per se right now. We are working on that initial note numbers pretty soon. But I would say, close to record breaking grants.”

The Oyster Festival was cancelled last year due to COVID-19.  This year’s event was the Seaport Association’s 43rd, and Reilly took care to thank sponsor First County Bank and others.

The Seaport Association has a mission of supporting the Sheffield Island lighthouse and, “this is what we do,” he said. “And we couldn’t do without our 1,000 volunteers and our sponsors and vendors, and food booths and organizations with this massive event. We’re very, very happy.”

One unhappy incident: a professional acrobat was injured when he fell while performing in “The Pirates of the Colombian Caribbean.”

“We don’t really talk about those kind of things,” Reilly said. “…We have shows on the field that we hire professional people for. And unfortunately, in that business, sometimes things happen. You know, and these are professionally trained, world touring acrobat thrill show type thing. And it’s very, very unfortunate, but he’ll make a full recovery.”

But, “The crowds for all the events and performances were very, very large,” Reilly said. “Very well received. But the important thing for us is a real ‘thank you.’ We couldn’t do this our sponsors and our and our guests obviously support the support that’s really important to us.”