LEONARDTOWN, Md. -- Thousands of visitors packed the St. Mary's County Fairgrounds over the weekend for the 59th annual U.S. Oyster Festival, celebrating local heritage, watermen, oysters and community. The event concluded with the U.S. National Oyster Shucking Championships, where Honor Allen took first place after a fast final round.
Allen, from Dat Cajun Place in Panama City, Fla., will represent the United States next year as he returns to the World Oyster Opening Championship in Galway, Ireland, for his seventh time. Known internationally, Allen recently ranked fourth among the world's finest oyster shuckers in 2025.
Second place at the U.S. National Oyster Shucking Championships went to Jordan Gallet from Superior Seafood & Oyster Bar in New Orleans, La., and third place to Isabella "Gater" MacBeth from Holy City Oyster Maven in Charleston, S.C., rounding out the top shuckers in one of the nation's most distinctive seafood competitions.
Carl Franzen, chairman of the U.S. National Oyster Shucking Championships, helped organize the national championships as part of the U.S. Oyster Festival.
According to Franzen, the contest's roots trace back to the early years of the festival, when local watermen and Rotarians joined to celebrate the region's seafood heritage. That evolved into a nationally recognized event, earning the trademark title "U.S. National Oyster Shucking Championships."
"It started as a fun event and grew into a serious shucking competition," Franzen said. "We're privileged to send our winner to the World Oyster Opening Championships in Galway, Ireland, each year."
"It's a lot of moving parts," Franzen said. "We've got timers, judges, clerks and stage crew all working together. Once it gets going, it's a little bit of mayhem -- but the good kind."
The U.S. Oyster Festival spotlighted the environmental impact of oysters in restoring the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. Allison Albert Guercio from the Oyster Recovery Partnership (ORP) collected thousands of used oyster shells for recycling and future reef planting to stimulate the natural process of oyster bar growth in Chesapeake waterways.
"Oyster shell is the literal building block of a new oyster reef," Guercio said. "We talk about following shell from plate to reef."
The Maryland Department of Natural Resources reported in 2025 that the oyster population has tripled in the past 20 years. While a few factors contributed to the increase, like low disease and good spatsets (oyster larvae spat-on-shell), the restoration efforts from organizations like the Oyster Recovery Partnership contributed a lot.
The 2014 Chesapeake Bay agreement included a goal of restoring 10 tributaries in Maryland and Virginia, a milestone completed in 2025 according to the Chesapeake Bay Program. Guercio said the Oyster Recovery Partnership worked closely with many organizations to help meet this goal for the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
"The oyster restoration goal was successfully achieved in 2025," Guercio said. "It takes a village. This is not simple science, this is not one solution, but oyster restoration works for Bay recovery."
The Oyster Recovery Partnership also sponsored a competitor in the national shucking contest, Francisco Lopez from The Walrus Oyster & Ale House in Oxon Hill, Md., to highlight the link between the seafood industry and sustainability.
Robert T. Brown, president of the Maryland Watermen's Association, said their efforts coordinated broad restoration and policy initiatives for Maryland. They partnered with state agencies, researchers and local governments to rebuild oyster populations in multiple tributaries.
Brown said Maryland's watermen have helped plant oysters from the Potomac River to the Wicomico River, often supplying labor, shell and vessels for public reef projects. The Maryland Watermen's Association's members also take part in aquaculture and shell recycling programs that turn oyster shells from restaurants and festivals into new reef material.
"It helps the Bay, and it helps the people who make their living from it," Brown said. "Every oyster that gets planted or harvested is part of keeping this industry and our waters alive."
Brown said the Maryland Watermen's Association was active in state-level conservation discussions, including the Chesapeake Bay Program and fishery management councils. He emphasized that watermen are essential partners in restoration because they depend on healthy waters for their livelihood.
"We know the Bay better than anyone," Brown said. "If you want to keep it healthy, you need to listen to the people who work on it every day."
At the heart of the U.S. Oyster Festival, the St. Mary's County Watermen's Association continued a six-decade tradition that began when local watermen first organized the event to celebrate and sustain their trade. The association still runs a festival fry tent every year, serving fried oysters, clams and chowder throughout the weekend.
Willy Dean, chairman of the St. Mary's County Watermen's Association, said the work that happens behind the tent each year had a direct link to the water.
"Every oyster we fry here helps put oysters back into the Bay," Dean said. "All the proceeds go toward planting oysters on public grounds right here in St. Mary's County."
Dean said the St. Mary's County Watermen's Association coordinated closely with the county commissioners, who often helped match their funds to expand oyster planting projects in local rivers.
"It is all about keeping the Bay healthy and keeping our heritage alive," Dean said. "This festival isn't just about selling seafood, it's about giving back to the water that gives to us."
The St. Mary's County Watermen's Association members handled everything from dredging to transport during planting season, supplying the labor and equipment needed to place recycled shell and spat-on-shell into local waterways. Dean said watermen view restoration as both an ecological and economic investment.
"When the oysters thrive, so does the community," Dean said. "Clean water, healthy reefs and good catches -- that's what keeps St. Mary's going."
The Rotary Club of Lexington Park served as the organizing backbone of the U.S. Oyster Festival, an event that has become one of Southern Maryland's longest-running fundraisers for local causes.
Rose Frederick, president of the Rotary Club of Lexington Park, said the festival grew decades ago when local watermen and Rotarians joined to support their neighbors and preserve the area's working heritage.
"The festival was established by the watermen of St. Mary's County," Frederick said. "The Rotary Club helped it grow into the event it is today. One hundred percent of the funds collected go back into the community through grants and scholarships."
The Rotary Club's proceeds from the U.S. Oyster Festival are distributed to local nonprofits through a community grant process. Organizations supported by the festival include local food banks, youth programs and mental health services. For example, Frederick said the club helped launch Feed St. Mary's, which now supplies food to pantries across St. Mary's County.
"We stood up the food bank with a grant," Frederick said. "Now it feeds so many in the county who used to have to travel far to get food. The festival helps us keep that going."
St. Mary's County Commissioner President Randy Guy participated in the U.S. National Oyster Shucking Championships by timing one of the shuckers. Guy said he has helped with the competition for a long time, and he was excited to see this year's U.S. Oyster Festival so well attended, and to see St. Mary's County get some international attention.
"These people are shucking, and whoever wins here will be going to Ireland for the international shucking contest," Guy said. "It of course drew a huge crowd yesterday, and another big crowd today. So, it's good for all of us, especially for the county and the people coming in and staying overnight, staying for a few days. Come back and visit more!"