It seems to me that it always rains on Lund Shellfish Festival weekend. People I mention this to generally disagree, maybe because they don’t want our festival to get a reputation for being rained on.
I don’t mean it as a complaint, more like a testament to the fact that we still know how to have fun even when it’s rainy. This year was no exception, as it was certainly drippy on Saturday, but the whole harbour was full of music and food and folks having fun together.
Sunday cleared up and the sun came out, and I noticed right away that a lot more folks I didn’t recognize came out on Sunday. Tourists from town, or out of town, who knows?
I commented that it seems like the locals preferred to come out in the rain. One of my friends said, “I guess Lundies come out in the rain, like slugs,” another thing that could be seen as a less-than-salutary comparison, but I’ll take it as a comment that we know how to be at home in our surroundings.
My very first Lund Shellfish Festival was a rainy one, when I first moved to Lund in 2009. Sandy Dunlop was organizing the music, as she always does, and asked me if I’d come and play, which I did. It was so rainy that the tent with the stage was under the balcony of the Lund Hotel.
When I packed up my gear to head down that morning, I was sure it would be dead. But it was a packed crowd, everyone in Pollen Sweaters and gumboots and having a great time. Nobody even mentioned the rain. I thought to myself, “This is my kind of town.”
I’m not much of a festival-goer, myself. I don’t really like crowds, and I always figured the best way to keep my money in my pocket is to stay home.
But Lund Shellfish Festival is different. It has the feeling of a small-town social, even though it’s getting more and more popular with folks from out of Lund. There’s none of the push and hustle I associate with festivals, and it always seems everyone is just there to share the things they love: their arts and crafts, the shellfish they work so hard to raise, and the music they play in their living rooms with friends.
It’s almost like Lund just picks up our regular kitchen parties and brings them all down to the harbour for the weekend, rain or shine.
My friend, who’s been a shellfish farmer out here for ages, was serving up deep-fried oysters on a stick (my personal favourite). I asked if he ever gets sick of eating oysters, and he just shook his head. “Never,” he said.
Shellfish farmers are some of the hardest working folks you’ll ever meet, but they still find time to volunteer at things like the annual Okeover Cleanup Day and the Lund Shellfish Festival.
So here’s a great big thank you to everyone who makes it happen. I can’t wait for next year.
