Galway International Oyster Festival

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Galway International Oyster Festival is a yearly food festival in Galway, on Ireland’s west coast. It takes place on the last weekend of September to mark the start of the oyster season.

Origins: The festival began in 1954, created by Brian Collins, manager of the Great Southern Hotel (now Hotel Meyrick), to celebrate the Galway native oyster and attract visitors to Galway in a quieter month. The first festival drew about 34 attendees. In its early days, events were held in Clarenbridge during the day and at the Great Southern Hotel in Galway City at night, before moving entirely to Galway city in the mid-1980s.

Over the years, a red-and-white striped marquee was set up at Spanish Arch and later at Nimmo’s Pier by the Claddagh. To cut ticket prices, the festival moved to The Radisson Hotel Galway in 2009. Demand brought the marquee back in 2011 at the Docks, and the festival was renamed the Galway International Oyster & Seafood Festival.

In 2014, the festival’s 60th anniversary, it returned to the Galway City Fishmarket at the Spanish Arch. The event now features two Oyster Opening Championships: the Irish Oyster Opening Championship and the World Oyster Opening Championship.

Clarenbridge, the original location, runs a separate Clarenbridge Oyster Festival as of 2019, which also began in 1954.