The St. George Island Business Association has chosen not to hold the St. George Island Oyster Spat Festival in the year 2010.  This year would have been the fifth year of the festival.

Although the festival has each year been partly funded by the Franklin County Tourist Development Council, funding has also been acquired from local sponsors, entry fees, raffles, and the sale of Oyster Spat merchandise. We are concerned that the economic downturn which is still affecting the nation, in concert with the perceived threat of an oil spill on our beaches, will negatively impact our ability to fund the festival.  Last year, several businesses that had previously been financial sponsors, declined to donate due to belt-tighening measures. We anticipate that sponsors will be even more difficult to solicit this year.  Our business members in the accommodations field are daily hearing the concerns and reluctance of potential visitors to book rental homes and rooms.  Without a great number of festival goers, we won't be able to collect the entry fees, or sell the raffle tickets and merchandise, which have been essential to paying the festival's expenses.

Hosting a festival requires a great commitment of time and energy, and many months of planning.  Our membership is currently reaching deep to find the strength to recover from the economic downturn of the past couple of years and face the uncertainty of the coming season. It is with sadness that we have chosen not to have a festival this year, but we have great optimism for hosting a wonderful St. George Island Spat Festival in 2011.

Well, it's a baby oyster! An oyster may spawn as either a male or a female, depending upon the salt content and temperature of the water. Eggs, which look like a milky cloud, are normally released on an ebbing tide. An oyster sheds and average of one million eggs, on which small fish feed. The fertilized eggs float 7-18 days before settling, if they are not eaten by a predator first. In spite of its miniscule size, each larva has a tiny shell complete with muscle and a foot. Once its swimming stage is over, the larva extends its foot, settles on any solid object it can find, and cements itself into place. At this stage it is known as an oyster spat. Once they are anchored into place, an oyster spat will grow it's shells.

So the oyster will be honored in October.
The family festival, which is open to the public, will highlight the county's proud seafood industry and beautiful beaches. The Oyster Spat Festival is a great reason to come and enjoy St. George Island at a beautiful time of year that many visitors don't get to see. St. George Island, in the Panhandle of Florida, is exceptionally beautiful and unique in that it is a coastal resort area without high density condos, wall-to-wall people or traffic jams. You arrive at St. George Island via the third longest bridge in Florida.


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